Russian Forces offer militants in Mariupol to surrender: MoD

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Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said, on Saturday, that the Russian Armed Forces offer militants from nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries imprisoned in Mariupol the opportunity to end hostilities and lay down arms at 06:00 Moscow time on Sunday, April 17, in exchange for their lives being spared.

In a statement, Mizintsev added: "Given the catastrophic situation at the Azovstal iron and steelworks, and out of purely humane principles, the Russian Armed Forces offer the militants from nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries to end hostilities and lay down arms from 06:00 Moscow time on April 17, 2022. The lives of all those who lay down their arms will be spared."

The following plan is proposed: beginning at 05:00, a constant communication channel between the Russian and Ukrainian sides is established to exchange information. A cease-fire is declared effective at 05:30 Moscow time, the statement read.

At 06:00, the sides raise flags – red flags from the Russian side and white flags from the Ukrainian side – along the entire perimeter of the plant.

Furthermore, the sides' readiness for a cease-fire is confirmed through all channels of communication. From 06:00 to 13:00, all Ukrainian armed units and foreign mercenaries, without exception, leave without any weapons or ammunition.

The subject matter of radio communications of nationalist and mercenary units imprisoned at Azovstal attests to their hopeless situation. They demand that the official Kiev grant them permission to surrender, but in response, they are threatened with executions, according to Mizintsev.

"Within April 16, 2022, a sharp increase was recorded in the intensity of radio communications of militants from nationalist units and foreign mercenaries blocked in Mariupol at the Azovstal metallurgical plant," he reported. "The content of radio interceptions (there were 367 of them alone in the past 24 hours) indicates that the militants offering resistance are in a hopeless situation, practically without food and water. They urge permission to lay down arms and surrender from the Kiev authorities. Meanwhile, representatives of the Kiev authorities categorically forbid them to do this and threaten with subsequent executions under the ‘wartime’ conditions," the statement concluded.

It is worth mentioning that all of Mariupol's urban area has been cleared, Saturday, of Ukrainian troops, with more than 4,000 soldiers eliminated, according to Russian Defense Ministry.

Mariupol has been a playground for Ukrainian provocations since the war broke out in the country on February 24. The Russian Defense Ministry had revealed that Ukrainian nationalists in Mariupol used about 150 civilians as human shields and opened fire against DPR fighters from behind the civilians' backs.

Azov battalion militants had also opened fire against civilians during evacuations from the city, resulting in the death of two people and the injury of four others, the DPR reported last month.