The Nazis did not apologize, they were not afraid, but they could not look us in the eye.

DMITRY STESHIN
Komsomolskaya Pravda
Читайте на WWW.KP.RU: https://www.kp.ru/daily/27393/4588115/

Part of the Azovites left Azovstal. According to them, the remaining military are ready to continue the commissioning of the plant. Photo: Dmitry STESHIN

Early in the morning, on May 16, the positions under the walls of Azovstal began to stir. A white flag poked out of a tunnel under the railway tracks, followed by people in a strange, dark sandy uniform with blue tape on their sleeves and ammunition. Together with the “factory inmates”, the boy Kolya got out - he looked to be 15-16 years old - for the last month he lived at Azovstal practically on the surface, in one of the factory supply rooms. As you might guess, the teenager testified to good will and readiness for dialogue. This dialogue has been long awaited. Both our negotiating group and the "Azovites" themselves, as the militias called them - "PSE" Azovstal ".

For four long hours I sat in position in some kind of administrative factory building with trash everywhere. It was very quiet, and for the first time I heard the toads yelling in the Kalmius River, they are now in spring love. We were waiting. They were waiting for this whole epic to end and someone to go home, at least for a few days on leave, so that later, if necessary, continue to fight further.

By one o'clock in the afternoon, the radio spoke clearly and sternly: do not open fire, sappers will start working from 13.00, open the mined passage for those who surrender and dismantle the rubble. Everyone take their positions, triple their vigilance, and prevent provocations. The exit of the first group with the wounded at 15.00.

Finally, there was clarity: the exit of the first group with the wounded was scheduled for 15:00. Photo: Dmitry STESHIN

It was lunch time, the fighters regretfully set aside or quickly scraped the rations of meat and vegetable canned food. The fighter with the call sign “Borzoy” took the “Bumblebee” flamethrower and, fitting it behind his back, muttered: “You can expect anything from these. The positions will be cleared, our firing points will be copied and how they will go for a breakthrough ... ". The place for the exit of the surrendered and the removal of the wounded was chosen wisely - a narrow passage under the tracks, on the embankment along the same narrow corridor between the buildings. Under the full supervision of "Borzoy" ...

Skewers on Azovstali

The passage for surrender turned out to be miraculous - a bomb hit between the tracks, throwing out several tons of earth. At this hole, the Ukrainian militants threw rusty, bent iron and mined almost three layers. Now, these same people in a strange uniform, quickly and dexterously dismantled the blockage with shovels, and having disassembled it, moved between the embankment and our building. Our fighter, who crouched near the loophole, took aim at the enemies - they were about ten meters away. The "Azov" were walking, sometimes stopping and squatting over some dark green boxes sprinkled with dust. These were home-made mines made of cartridge zinc stuffed with plastic. The calculation is that tankers will not pay attention to the usual military garbage - empty cartridge zinc. But, some mines were connected by wires - their "Azov" sappers cut them without hesitation. And all this happened in complete silence.

Clearing the way for future evacuation. Photo: Dmitry STESHIN

Forces "Azov" clear the passage. Photo: Dmitry STESHIN

One of ours shouted out: “What, falconers, have you fought? Well, tell me how the stick is right?" But no one supported the wit, the fervent cry faded in silence. The strangers were all with weapons, however, machine guns were thrown behind their backs, pistols in buttoned holsters. The "Azovites" reached the exit from the yard and stopped in some confusion. In front of them stretched the floodplain of the River, delightful in its greenery and width. And on the other side of Naberezhny Prospekt, there is a Sarmat restaurant. Those who left the factory were, without exaggeration, shocked by the view. One of the strangers exclaimed: "Oh, now would be good hour for a barbecue!". And I, looking at this cafe long closed because of the war, thought the same thing ...

ABOVE: "Azov" clear mine exit for the wounded, they will all be taken to the hospital
Military correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda Dmitry Steshin reports from Mariupol, where an agreement was reached on the removal of the wounded from the Azovstal plant

Mercy trait

THEY didn't look into the asphalt, but they didn't look into our eyes either. All young, up to twenty and a little more. Very cool gear, everyone. But the weapon is the same - our eternal Kalashnikov. They weren't dirty, they weren't haggard and scared. Rather tense. So far, they had all the necessary stripes - from yellow-black flags to "Azov" chevrons. And we, with my comrade, the militia Vlad, did not know how to behave. He held the machine almost at the ready. To be honest, I was ready to hang on Vlad's shoulders. He lost everything in this war - his house in Poltava, relatives, fellow soldiers, health. Exchanged for the trenches the best years of male maturity.

I have not been separated from Vlad for the third month already and I know how sometimes fierce, terrible anger boils in him. But Vlad was calm. Probably, something happened to us that always happens to Russian people at the sight of a surrendering enemy. No matter what bestiality and cruelty he does, no matter what bloody battles the day before, there is such an invisible line beyond which mercy turns on. No, of course, prisoners can later be judged, but laying mounds of severed heads right on the battlefield is not in our tradition. Vlad spoke first, very calmly:

Why are you so clean? Does that mean there is water?

The guy with the bushy beard, with a Stechkin pistol in his chest holster, seemed to be waiting for this question:

- "There is water. Technical. There "- "Azov" pointed with a hand in a tactical glove to the going black pipes - "there are tons of it! And even tea can be brewed normally. But food has been a problem for a week now. We found apples here, a box, it was such a simple holiday."

I couldn't resist:

- How many of you are there?

The guy with Stechkin answered both evasively and with soldier's ingenuity:

—You'll be amazed how many of us are out there.—

I took out the camera:

- This is probably your last chance to tell your relatives that you are alive. I can record videos, I'll throw them in the evening.

But, they did not want to act, none.

By all indications, the confrontation at Azovstal is over. Photo: Dmitry STESHIN

The guy with the Stechkin turned out to be my namesake. Almost. Named Dmitro. We talked about the bombings. According to Dmitro, the jamming was terrifying, creepy, and only:

- To break the bunker, you need to put three FAB-500s in one place. The first collapses the building, the second makes a funnel, the third breaks through to the bomb shelter.

What were you doing during the bombings?

- In "Counter-strike" they were cut along the grid ...

Vlad once again examined the audience and issued a diagnosis:

- If we were all dressed ... well, in tracksuits, and put on a bench in the park, no one would understand who is here for what and for whom ...

There was a pause, and to fill it in, I remarked:

- It would still be interesting to understand why we are so bloody ...

18-year-old "Azov" Nazar from Lviv broke away from another mine and for the first time in many months I heard the Ukrainian language live:

- Ztokhnuvshi people with people ... (pushed people with people, in Ukrainian)

Dmitro noticed that “everyone got along just fine” and said that he was from Mariupol. But Vlad did not agree here:

- I am from Poltava, I left to fight in the fourteenth year, because I understood that I could not get along there. Here we all speak Russian. And they spread rot on the Russian, they adopted a bunch of laws!

Dmitro squeezed out:

- Well, yes.

One of the surrendering Nazis wears the chevron of the SS division "Galicia" on his right hand. The other is a stylization of the emblem of the 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf". Denazification as it is. Well, fascism, which "is not in Ukraine." Photo: Dmitry STESHIN Читайте на WWW.KP.RU: https://www.kp.ru/daily/27393/4588115/

But he quickly gathered himself, saying that all these were our internal Ukrainian affairs, but why did Russia get into this? I did not expect such malice from Vlad:

- And what, you wanted to simply kill all of us, and no one would stand up? Now Europe and the USA are for you, and Russia is for us. Are you okay? And we're fine. That is, it is not normal to ruin youth in the war.

Dmitro remarked:

- I, too, have been fighting since I was 14. Also youth ... moreover. Has ended already.

Vlad perked up: "Where did you fight?" I left them to talk, and they talked for an hour.

Our officer showed up.

- Let's move on to defuse mines.

There were still many mines - half of Naberezhny Prospekt.

The Ukrainian sappers had enough work that day. Photo: Dmitry STESHIN

Losers or losers?

An hour later, the first batch of “zahistniks” left the factory. Before passing under the tracks, they tore off their sweaty armor, threw off their helmets and weapons, and went into captivity. They didn't feel defeated, more like losers. Lost one battle. And yet, they believed in our mercy and knew for sure that they would not shoot their legs and gouge out their eyes. The way "Azov" had behaved with our prisoners.

The first party left, and ... almost immediately returned - already with a stretcher. They carried the wounded away from the factory. The Azov people told us, they say, “we would sit at the plant until the New Year.” Perhaps, but the wounded, judging by their condition, would not have survived until the next Sunday. And as one of our negotiators explained to me informally, "we started the surrender process with an act of mercy." It was hard to argue with that. In general, I did not want to argue about anything, sitting on the loose earth, under the menacingly creaking exploded rails. An officer from Azov showed up. According to him, the core of the regiment is still in position, waiting for the first day of surrender to pass. They have the Internet, and they greedily catch every message on the Net. But one thing is already clear to everyone - "the evil Kyiv owner of the living" Azov "is not needed." This is finally understood by everyone.

Evacuation of the wounded "Azov". Photo: Dmitry STESHIN

In general, by all indications, the war in Mariupol is over. Done with!

A detachment of the DPR battalion "Vostok" penetrates the territory of "Azovstal".  Photo: Dmitry STESHIN

Finally, Vlad surprised me:

- After the war, I would drink with this Dmitro.

- Did you forgive them?

- Nope. But I liked it, we would have something to talk about.

- What did you like?

- He is still the only one who did not pretend to be a cook and did not play around. This is a worthy enemy.

But we defeated them.

- Yes. But it was very hard.

Читайте на WWW.KP.RU: https://www.kp.ru/daily/27393/4588115/

It is worth noting that earlier information appeared that the wounded of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were being taken out of the basements of Azovstal for treatment in the DPR. Our observer Nikolai Varsegov comments on this news:

"To tell the truth, I initially had ... a misunderstanding of this decision on our part. By accepting enemy wounded, including the Nazis of Azov, we, of course, make life much easier for those who hid under the plant. Now they do not have to share the meager remains of water and food with those who came out of the sunken galleries...No need to waste physical and moral strength to help them, and therefore the surrender of these basement warriors will drag on for some time, tying down our military over Azovstal."

I have no doubt that many Russians, who worry about our soldiers and wish for a speedy victory, think the same way.

But there is another, probably more valuable side of the coin - humanism. Most, I believe, the rescued Ukrainian wounded, as well as their loved ones, will change their minds to everything that is happening. They will turn on the mind, as happens with hundreds of other military Ukrainians who are in our captivity. Every now and then we see on TV screens absolutely adequate people who have surrendered to the Russian army, who sincerely declare that they do not want to fight for the crooks and bandits who have seized power in Ukraine. “The summons came, I was taken to the front. Where was it to go? Otherwise, prison ... ".

One must think that among the wounded at "Azrovstal" these are the majority. And humanly, and not for the photo-op, they are sorry.

Ukrainian propaganda is trying its best to show the Russian army as barbaric. They call it a horde that encroached on their exaggerated democracy. But the whole world saw how Ukrainian "democrats" in military uniform mocked our prisoners of war with sadistic joy. Nothing like this happens on our side. On the contrary, we feed them normally, treat their wounds, do not humiliate their human dignity. My personal opinion is that mocking prisoners of war is a sign of subhumanity. I am satisfied that in my civilized country, even in a mild form, there is no such disgrace with prisoners as is happening in Ukraine.

And this humane action for the treatment of Ukrainian wounded is important for us in order to feel like decent people. And we don't give a damn what Ukrainian and Western propagandists say about us there. We Russians are much higher morally than they are, as events show.

Even the Nazi-whitewashing Western media is showing footage of this event.

Russian defence ministry issues footage showing what it says are Ukrainian fighters from the Azovstal steel plant surrendering, getting searched by Russian forces and being loaded into ambulances. Russia says a total of 959 combatants have surrendered from the steel plant since Monday, the 16 May 2022. This clip was reproduced by the UK's The Guardian.

The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post. However, we do think they are important enough to be transmitted to a wider audience.