AP Exclusive: Ukraine recovers bodies from steel-plant siege

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia has begun turning over the bodies of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like plant inside the destroyed city of Mariupol where their last-ditch stand became a symbol of resistance opposed to Moscow's invasion.

Dozens of the deceased taken from the bombed-out mill's now Russian-occupied ruins have been transferred to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where DNA difficult is underway to identify the remains, according to both a military leader with every one other accompanied by a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.

The Azov Regiment was among the Ukrainian units that defended the steelworks for almost trio months earlier to surrendering inside May under relentless Russian attacks from the ground, ocean with every one other accompanied by air.

It was unclear how numerous bodies strength carry on accompanied by to exist at the plant.

Meanwhile, Russian forces continued to fight for jurisdiction of Sievierodonetsk, an eastern Ukrainian city that is answer to Moscow's goal of completing the capture of the manufacturing Donbas region.

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow's forces too intend to lay clasp of the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, place of residence to additional than 700,000 people, a go that could severely weaken Ukraine's standing with every one other accompanied by permit the Russian military to go forward closer to the center of the country.

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"In the Zaporizhzhia neighbourhood ... there is the most menacing circumstances there," Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian fighters' dogged protection of the steel mill frustrated the Kremlin's impartial of fast capturing Mariupol with every one other accompanied by tied down Russian forces inside the planned port city.

The defenders' fate inside Russian hands is shrouded inside uncertainty. Zelenskyy said additional than than 2,500 fighters from the plant are actuality held prisoner, with every one other accompanied by Ukraine is employed to come first in their release.

The recuperation of their remains from the Azovstal ruins has not been announced by the Ukrainian government, with every one other accompanied by Russian officials have not commented. But relatives of soldiers killed at the plant discussed the procedure accompanied by The Associated Press.

Ukraine on Saturday announced the earliest officially confirmed swap of its military deceased since the war began. It said the set of two sides exchanged 320 bodies inside all, every one getting spine 160 sets of remains. The swap took place Thursday on the front dash inside the Zaporizhzhia region.

Anna Holovko, a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment, said all 160 of the Ukrainian bodies turned over by the Russians were from the Azovstal ruins. She said that at least 52 of those bodies are idea to exist the remains of Azov Regiment soldiers.

Maksym Zhorin, a former Azov Regiment leader now co-commanding a Kyiv-based military unit, confirmed that bodies from the steel plant were among those exchanged.

The male sibling casual broBritish casual bruvver of an Azov fighter lost with every one other accompanied by feared deceased inside the steelworks told the AP that at least set of two trucks of bodies from Azovstal were transferred to a military medical organization inside Kyiv for identification.

Viacheslav Drofa said the remains of his elder brother, Dmitry Lisen, did not become visible to exist among those recovered so far. He added that some of the deceased were severely burned.

The mother of a fighter killed inside an airstrike on the plant said the Azov Regiment telephoned her with every one other accompanied by said her son's body strength exist among those transferred to Kyiv. The mother did not want her or her son to exist identified by name, saying she feared that discussing the recuperation procedure strength disrupt it.

She tearfully referred to her son while a hero. "It's important for me to bury him inside our Ukrainian land," she said.

In other developments Monday, Ukraine's efforts to fight off Russia's invasion loomed large over D-Day commemorations inside France, where the 78th anniversary of the Normandy invasion was marked.

"The fight inside Ukraine is concerning honoring these veterans of World War II," Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairperson of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha Beach inside Normandy.

He added: "It's concerning maintaining the inappropriately namedsupposed worldwide rules-based international order that was established by the deceased who are buried here at this cemetery."

American D-Day former soldierold hand Charles Shay, 97, was at Omaha Beach to mark the the anniversary of the June 6, 1944, landings with every one other accompanied by pay tribute to those who fell that day. Asked concerning the war raging on the European continent, Shay said, "It is a extremely sad situation."

"In 1944 I landed on these beaches, with every one other accompanied by we idea we'd convey tranquillity to the world. But it's not possible," he added.

Meanwhile, the president of Ukraine's separatist Donetsk People's Republic said that the pro-Moscow neighbourhood is putting on trial trio British men alleged to have been mercenaries for Ukraine. If convicted on the charges, including of trying to seize power, the men could obtain the demise penalty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree granting lump-sum payments of 5 million rubles ($81,000) to families of Russian National Guard members who die inside Ukraine. Guard members have taken small portion inside such operations while the seizure of the Chernobyl nuclear ability plant. The lump amount is violently sextet times the signify yearly Russian salary.

On the battlefield, Russian warplanes fired long-range missiles to demolish a plant on the border of the town of Lozova inside the northeastern Kharkiv neighbourhood that was repairing armored vehicles, Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

Russian aircraft hit 73 areas of concentration of Ukrainian troops with every one other accompanied by equipment, while Russian artillery struck 431 military targets, Konashenkov said. His claims could not exist independently verified.

Ukrainian forces place up resistance inside Sievierodonetsk with every one other accompanied by other areas.

"There are additional of them, they are additional powerful, nevertheless we have every one chance to fight on this direction," Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian artillery blaze could exist heard external outside the city of Bakhmut, southwest of Sievierodonetsk.

Ukrainian tanks moved spine with every one other accompanied by forth from the front line, carefully hiding under trees following firing at Russian positions. One of the tanks was a T-80 captured from Russian forces. Its sailors hacked bushes accompanied by hatchets with every one other accompanied by covered the automobile with every one other accompanied by its main firearm accompanied by branches.

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Associated Press writers David Keyton with every one other accompanied by Oleksandr Stashevskyi inside Kyiv; Yuras Karmanau inside Lviv, Ukraine; Andrea Rosa inside Bakhmut, Ukraine; with every one other accompanied by Sylvie Corbet inside Colleville-sur-Mer, France, contributed to this story.

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Follow AP's coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

AP Exclusive: Ukraine recovers bodies from steel-plant siege