Russia: Ukraine and Turkey breach the contract, and Zelensky brings the leader of the "Camp of Azov" back to Ukraine | Türkiye | to pick up people
According to the Russian Sputnik News Agency, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said on July 8 that the head of the "Yasu Camp" returned to Ukraine from Türkiye, and both Ukraine and Türkiye violated the relevant agreements reached last year.
According to reports, the Russian army surrounded Mariupol on March 7th last year and almost "liberated" the entire city by April 21st. More than 2000 Ukrainian soldiers and armed militants from the "Azov Camp" have been locked down inside the Azov Steel Plant. They began surrendering in mid May. On May 20th, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Mariupol was completely "liberated".
▲ On July 8, Ukrainian President Zelensky and Interior Minister Klimenko took a group photo on the plane with the commander of the "Azov Battalion" returning from Türkiye and other Ukrainian army officers.
In September last year, under the mediation of President Erdogan of Türkiye, Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war, and Russia released 188 Uzbek prisoners from Yasu Steel Plant. Ukrainian President Zelensky announced that five commanders had been transferred to Türkiye.
According to the report, Peskov made it clear on the 8th that according to the terms of the agreement, these people should stay in Türkiye until the end of the conflict. At the same time, no one reported to the Russian side about the transfer of the above-mentioned armed militants.
Peskov stressed that Türkiye was forced to take this measure against the background of the Ukrainian army's failure in the front line.
He pointed out, "The decision to violate the agreement and hand over the leaders of the 'Azov Camp' to Zelensky and send them back to Ukraine is definitely directly related to the daily counterattack failures that the Ukrainian army is currently facing."
According to the report, Peskov also mentioned that the NATO summit is about to be held. Against the background of preparing for this, Ankara is facing great pressure.
Peskov said: "As a member of NATO, Türkiye should certainly show its solidarity with the latter in this way. We are very clear about this."
According to Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Ukrainian President Zelensky, who returned from a visit to Türkiye, announced that several senior Ukrainian military officers who participated in the battle at Mariupolyasu Iron and Steel Plant last year returned from Türkiye on the 8th.
According to the report, Zelensky posted a photo of himself with three commanders of the "Azov Battalion" and two other officers on the "Telegraph" social media platform on the 8th.
The office of the President of Ukraine said that "after negotiations with Türkiye", these officers were able to return to Ukraine.
According to Reuters, Zelensky held talks with Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on the 7th. He said, "We are returning from Türkiye to take our heroes home."
Zelensky did not explain why these commanders are now allowed to return home. Türkiye also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.