KYIV, Ukraine — As Russia constructs cages in the home of the Mariupol Chamber Philharmonic and local proxy leaders suggest that captured Ukrainian soldiers could soon be put on trial with verdicts that will almost certainly be preordained, wives of Ukrainians who surrendered in May after an 80-day siege at the sprawling Azovstal Iron and Steel Works have stepped up their efforts to raise awareness.
The wives have kept pressure on both the Ukrainian government at home and appealed to world leaders to take action to ensure that Russia adheres to the protocols of the Geneva Conventions for the treatment of prisoners, or face consequences. Their campaign has played out in ways large and small.
On Saturday, they took to the streets of downtown Kyiv for a bike ride to again draw attention to the issue. With the threat of missile attacks a constant concern, any gathering is a daring act in Ukraine, even if many Ukrainians ignore the warnings.
How many Ukrainian soldiers are in Russian penal colonies is not clear, but they number in the thousands and include the hundreds of fighters who surrendered after the siege at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, a southern Ukrainian port city. They are now broadly referred to as the Azov fighters, a reference to the Azov Regiment that played a key role in the defense of the city.
Though it is now part of the Ukrainian National Guard, the Azov Regiment began as a far-right militia, and Russian propagandists have consistently pointed to it as evidence to support their unfounded claims about the influence of Nazism in the country and have painted its members as war criminals.
Where and under what conditions the captured fighters are being held has remained murky. Russian officials have indicated that they plan on holding trials for Ukrainian prisoners of war, including those from the regiment. Ukraine has denounced the potential trials as a strategy to distract from atrocities committed by Russian troops in the invasion.
That is partly why Saturday’s event seemed urgent to many participants.
“It is one more reminder for the people of the world and all Ukrainians that we need to free our prisoners, that they await our help,” Sandra Krotevych said at the bike ride on Saturday. She is the sister of Maj. Bohdan Krotevych, the chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, who is among the prisoners.
On Saturday, as the line of participants waiting to register for the bike ride snaked through a leafy park and onto a paved square, air raid sirens started howling.
Anna Danylenko, the leader of Bikeday Kyiv, one of the event’s organizers, moved the crowd away from the open space into a nearby street.
“This is the first time we’ve had this type of big event during the war,” she said. “Because of security concerns, we couldn’t bring many people together. But with the support of the State Emergency Service, the police and the city administration, we’ve made it happen.”
It was also a chance for some of the Azov fighters’ wives to come together and share experiences perhaps only they could understand.
Liliia Stupina, the wife of a captured Azov fighter, said she had been in touch with her husband up until the moment he left the plant, now over three months ago. Now she waits in dread for what she expects will be a testing day.
“August 24th, our Independence Day, is coming,” she said. “We are waiting in horror.”
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