In his Sunday night national address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Russia against sending Ukrainian prisoners of war to trial, insisting that if Moscow goes ahead with the plan it will end any possibility of peace negotiations between the two countries.
Zelenskyy referenced reports in the media that “disgusting and absurd” show trials are being prepared in occupied Mariupol for Ukrainian soldiers who have been taken captive by Russian troops.
“If this despicable show trial takes place, if our people are brought into this scenery in violation of all agreements, all international rules, if there is abuse … this will be the line beyond which any negotiations are impossible,” the Ukrainian president said.
Reports Reveal Steel Cages for Show Trial
In early August, the Mariupol City Council revealed how occupying Russian troops and fighters from the self-styled “Donetsk People’s Republic” were installing steel cages on the stage of the Mariupol Philharmonic. The images showed the cages half-erected at the side of the stage in what appeared to be a preparation for “show trials” of Ukrainian troops.
Olena Halushka, a board member at the Anti-Corruption Action Centre and the co-founder of the International Centre for Ukrainian Victory, shared the photographs on Twitter, warning that Russians were preparing for a “public lynching” of Ukrainian soldiers.
The images also showed a garage being constructed for vehicles that would transport the prisoners of war.
Mayor Vadym Boychenko asked the Red Cross and United Nations to intervene, warning how Russia was disregarding international norms, committing war crimes, and “showing contempt for the entire civilized world.”
“I appeal to the world community, the UN and the Red Cross to intervene in the situation so that the rules for treating prisoners of war work. We must do everything so that our defenders return to Ukraine alive, and prevent a second Olenivka in Mariupol,” the mayor said.
Who Are the Prisoners?
The soldiers expected to appear at these show trials, should they go ahead, are the soldiers who were captured during the Siege of Mariupol that ended on May 20. Soldiers eventually retreated to the Azovstal Iron and Steelworks, a large defensible industrial complex where Ukrainian soldiers spent weeks defending themselves against Russian invaders.
The Siege of Mariupol came to an end when the last soldiers of the Azov Regiment eventually surrendered to the Russians.
U.S. Soldiers assigned to Attack Battery, 2-12th Field Artillery Battalion, Task Force Rock, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, conducts registration and calibration for the M777 A2 Howitzer weapon system in Syria on Sept. 30, 2021. These exercises enable gun sections to deliver timely and accurate fires in support of TF Rock and their fight to defeat Daesh in designated areas of Syria. (U.S. Army photo by Cpl. Isaiah Scott). These are similar to the M777 pieces serving in Ukraine.
One Azov Regiment soldier who survived the siege, but who lost his left leg during combat, revealed some of the horrors from his time defending against the Russians in Mariupol. Speaking in front of a “Free Mariupol Defenders” banner at a city hall building this week, Vladyslav Zhaivoronok described how he and other Ukrainian soldiers held on for as long as they could.
“It was getting worse and worse, harder and harder. We held the defence as long as it could be held,” the soldier said.
Zhaivoronok also described how the building was “littered with fragments of buildings,” soldiers had access to very little water, food, and weapons, and that he used a half-destroyed base as a bunker. The soldier eventually lost his leg when his bunker was hit by an anti-tank missile on May 15.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
