Separatists Say NATO Weapons Left at Mariupol Plant

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Footage released by the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic on May 25 shows weapons, ammunition, and personal items in parts of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol following the surrender of Ukrainian forces.

The militia said they found “samples of weapons from NATO countries,” despite Ukrainian attempts to destroy some of the weapons left at the plant. This has not been independently verified.

Footage shows armed members of the militia entering the plant and walking into a bunker. Clothes, ammunition, and weapons are seen strewn across the various rooms. At one point the camera focuses on clothing with the emblem of the Azov Battalion, a group with far-right origins that was incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard and led the defense of Mariupol.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said on May 20 that all Ukrainian fighters had been evacuated from Azovstal.

In an interview with The Guardian on May 24, the wife of Azov Battalion commander Denys Prokopenko said she had been told by her husband that Ukrainian soldiers were being held in “satisfactory” conditions. Credit: Donetsk People’s Republic via Storyful