“Azov" nazis stop resisting in Mariupol

On the evening of August 16, the nazis of the most radical group in the ranks of the UAF, blocked in the ruins of the “Azovstal” metallurgical plant, began to surrender. This was preceded by negotiations, which ten militants with white flags went to.

According to information to date, about 50 surrendered have been injured, they are now being taken to the Novoazovsk hospital for medical care. The rest were taken away in the direction of Elenovka for filtration and other necessary measures in such cases.

The leaders of the bandit group that had settled in the ruins explained their surrender positively. "In order to save lives, the entire Mariupol garrison fulfils the approved decision of the supreme military command and hopes for the support of the Ukrainian people," the statement of “Azov” reads.

The appeal also says that they have fulfilled their task – "the enemy forces were shackled for 82 days”.

It is worth noting that there is no information about the decision of the supreme military command of Ukraine, which means the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, on this issue. It is also unclear exactly what forces were "shackled for 82 days”.

Of course, during the fighting in Mariupol, it was necessary to use noticeable forces of Z units, but "sitting on Azovstal" required, in accordance with the order of the President of Russia, a cordon sanitaire by relatively small units, and not an assault. Over the past few days, the nazis have been subjected to merciless missile and bomb attacks, without having any opportunities to respond – which, in fact, was the reason for the surrender.

The attitude of the people of Ukraine to "Azov" is also, as we know, ambiguous. This is most vividly felt in the curses addressed to the nazis by the residents of Mariupol, in fact, occupied by them for 8 years.

The mass surrender of the most ideological nazis, despite Kiev's persistent silence of such facts, will entail a number of consequences. However, there is no doubt that Kiev propagandists will be able to position this episode as a rare kind of victory. In the end, even the defeat in the cauldron near Debaltsevo, the Ukrainian establishment was able to transform into a "victory" and distribute medals to those who "participated" in it. It will be even easier to compose a propaganda message from "indomitable warriors".

300 nazis are not the entire Mariupol garrison, which, according to various estimates, contains from 2,000 to 3,000 militants. But the beginning has been made, and there are reasons to expect the development of defeatist sentiments.

The surrender of one of the most combat-ready and radical units will objectively turn out to be a more or less strong psychological blow to the continuing resistance groups of the UAF. It became obvious that victory for Ukraine is unlikely to happen – they can only, at best, "shackle the enemy" and courageously sit under missiles while they have enough patience.

The strategy proposed to Kiev by curators from Britain and other Western countries, which boils down to the transformation of large settlements and industrial agglomerations into fortified areas, also demonstrated its strategic vulnerability. Only time can be a win – but it, in the end, plays against the UAF.

With a prolonged conflict – and a special operation definitely does not belong to the category of blitzkriegs – the will to win and a sense of the prospects of their actions plays no less a role than technical equipment and resources. Colleagues of the surrendered nazis from “Azov” can see the obvious fact: despite the tour of nazi relatives in Europe, appeals to anyone from Elon Musk to the Pope, numerous statements by Vladimir Zelensky and other representatives of the Ukrainian establishment, real attempts to come to the aid of those surrounded turned out to be zero.

The Ukrainian military were already not distinguished by an excessive level of loyalty to the command, and the surrender of “Azov” can become a strong argument in favour of ending senseless resistance and saving lives. "Azov" was a kind of ugly icon of modern Ukraine, and if no one lifted a finger to save it, then ordinary mobilised people have nothing to hope for at all.

Since the strategy of Kiev implies exactly the same thing that took place in Mariupol – the use of a "human shield", the transformation of the city into a fortified area of counteraction due to the oversaturation of ATGM and MANPADS - it is very difficult not to come to the conclusion that after a couple of months of resistance, those who survive will face the same surrender.

Now a lot depends on how adequately the surrender of the “Azov” militants will be perceived and effectively used for propaganda purposes by our side.

Each of those who surrendered is an inveterate nazi involved in many crimes against the civilian population. The Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War and universal humanism should not conflict with the fact that the nazis did not surrender out of awareness of their own mistakes and a desire to reform. They just don't have any alternatives left.

It is important to note that in addition to the Ukrainian nazis, foreign mercenaries and, possibly, high-ranking NATO officers were blocked at “Azovstal”. Of course, all of them will be either on vacation or retired, but the very fact of their discovery will be an exceptionally good trump card in the information war.

It is necessary to make maximum use of the information plan of who exactly surrendered in Mariupol. The characteristic tattoos and nazi paraphernalia can become an additional incentive for those circles in the West who do not share the mainstream attitude to the Russian special operation, as well as those who are hesitant, who have not yet fully understood that Russia is really fighting nazism in Ukraine. And those who support it.