UNITED NATIONS, May 17. /TASS/. Militants of the Azov nationalist unit, blocked at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, surrendered without preconditions, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky tweeted Tuesday.
The Russian diplomat commented on the report in The New York Times, which claimed that Ukraine declared an "end to its combat mission" in Mariupol, and that the militants ‘were evacuated" which marked the end of hostilities at Azovstal.
"I didn’t know English has so many ways to express a single message: the #Azovnazis have unconditionally surrendered," Polyansky noted in English.
On Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the beginning of surrender of Azov militants at Azovstal; during the past 24 hours, 265 militants have laid down their weapons and surrendered, including 51 heavily injured ones.