A Russian military court has handed down long prison sentences to several members of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, which led the defense of the key city of Mariupol during the early months of the war.The city of Mariupol became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance, after Ukrainian soldiers, including members of the Azov unit, and residents sheltered for weeks underground in 2022 at the city’s massive Azovstal steelworks plant refusing to surrender to Russian forces.The sentencing coincided with Ukraine’s National Guard Day, which President Volodymyr Zelensky marked by praising the bravery of National Guard units and reaffirming Kyiv’s diplomatic efforts to free all Ukrainian prisoners of war, including Azov fighters. Do you think that the peace negotitations should include release of prisoners of war ?
