In Mariupol, 1,026 servicemen of the 36th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' marines who had been blocked at the Ilyich factory have surrendered to Russian and Donetsk people's republican military. According to the Defence Ministry, among those who surrendered there are 162 officers and 47 female servicemen. Military correspondent Oleksandr Sladkov witnessed the largest mass captivity of Ukrainian servicemen since the start of the special operation and was the first to report on it. In an interview with RT, he described how the marines tried to escape from the plant but were defeated and surrendered. - How did negotiations with the Ukrainian Marines on surrender begin? - 267 Marines from the 36th Marine Brigade surrendered as early as 4 April. This was preceded by long negotiations through their relatives and acquaintances. After all, many fellow countrymen of these marines from Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhya are fighting on the side of the DPR forces against the Nazis. When the smell of hot weather hit, the Ukrainian military began discussing a possible surrender with the Russian Defense Ministry's military intelligence service, the FSB, and the security operatives of the DPR and the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs. In other words, a powerful negotiation scheme was put in place, which eventually worked. - Did the news that almost 300 Marines surrendered influence their fellow servicemen's decision? - My team made a video about the Ukrainian military surrender and we published it on my Telegram channel. At the same time, negotiations were underway with other Ukrainian units who were entrenched in the Illich plant. They were openly boorish, saying that "a steamer called Russia is going to...", but when the video of their fellow soldiers surrendering, they too started discussing such an option. Aleksey Dikiy, Minister of Internal Affairs of the DPR, told me about this. - But didn't the Marines first try to force their way through the encirclement and out of the Illich plant? - Yes, on the night of April 11-12 they lined up a column of armoured fighting vehicles over a kilometre long, seated personnel there. At that time, they were being watched by our scouts of the forces storming the Ilyich Works. When the column was formed, artillery and air strikes were launched against this target. 250 people were killed, and about a hundred people on tanks rushed back to the territory of the plant. Another hundred or so Marines broke through from our ring, but were blocked. Most of them were killed, but 30 were taken prisoner. Thereafter, for those remaining in the factory, there was a choice: die for their Nazi ideas, or surrender alive. People abandoned these ideas, for which they had fought to live. - Were there wounded among the prisoners of war? How did the Russian and Donetsk military deal with them? - There was a Combined Marines Hospital on the territory of the plant and 300 wounded were taken from there. Ninety of them were non-disabled. Our military provided the marines with stretchers to carry the wounded. The doctors examined them as delicately as possible, but carefully, so that some desperate one would not carry a grenade to blow himself and others up. Everything went smoothly. The special forces of the DNR Interior Ministry are well prepared in this regard: they have extensive experience of taking prisoners, from negotiations to convoying them. Now all the prisoners of war are waiting to be placed in penitentiary institutions. - How did our military treat the prisoners of war? - No one tied people up, no one handcuffed them, no one mocked them, no one asked unnecessary questions. People were searched once, and if they did not need medical help, they were put in cars and sent to reception points. - Are the Marines afraid of how they will be treated in captivity? - Yes, they fear for their lives and that captivity will last too long. They are afraid of retaliation and torture by DNR forces, of criminal claims. At the place of inspection they were explained that no one would kill or torture anyone, they would be exchanged or released home. Despite the criminality of the ideas they were defending, they are still servicemen who carry out the orders of their commanders. If any of them have committed war crimes and this is proven, then of course there will be proceedings. The DNR state structures are not a horde or a gang, they act on the basis of laws. It is very strict about that. - Did any Ukrainian soldiers manage to escape from the factory while their fellow soldiers surrendered on 12 April? - 70 tried to escape, but as ours had completely blockaded the plant, they were quickly caught, loaded into KamAZs and also sent to the rear with the other prisoners. - On 13 April, the Russian Investigative Committee published a fragment of the interrogation of Rostislav Lomtev, deputy commander of the 36th separate brigade of the AFU Marines. What happened to the brigade commander? - The commander escaped. I think it happened when the marines were trying to break through from the plant. When the command disappears, people feel orphaned, discipline in the units is shaky. I'm guessing that's one of the reasons more than a thousand of the remaining Marines decided to surrender. As to the deputy commander, of course he is now under increased attention from our special services, they are working with him. But the man pops up from time to time in front of reporters and is in a normal condition: without bruises and abrasions, not intimidated or harassed. - According to the Ministry of Defence there are 47 servicewomen among the captured Marines. What positions did they hold in the brigade? - According to them, they served there as nurses, liaison officers, clothing and finance officers. There are women who served in secret reporting units. But you have to understand that what they say is not necessarily true. Maybe someone was officially listed as a nurse, but was a sniper. Maybe there are those who were under commanders in a romantic status. Law enforcers will still have to figure out who and what they were really doing. As a rule, all Marines claim to be drivers, cooks, and carefully conceal that they may have been servicing artillery, mortars, multiple rocket launchers. They say: "I didn't shoot, I didn't see anything". - You have been in the war zone since the start of the special operation and have seen quite a few captured Ukrainian soldiers. How do you assess their equipment, particularly that of the marines? - Many of those who surrendered on 12 April were dressed in civilian clothes. They all say that their uniforms are allegedly burnt. I think that's a deception: if they had really burnt, they would have been in bad shape themselves. But they looked very good, in a sporting way, so to speak. Apparently, they had changed into civilian clothes beforehand when they planned to escape from the factory. Marines of the 503rd battalion from the same 36th brigade who surrendered on April 4 were perfectly equipped: they surrendered with combat weapons, full combat pack, dry rations, documents and telephones. The few escapees who were caught in the city after the airstrikes on the Ukrainian armoured convoy on 12 April were in a disgusting state: dressed in some kind of women's home dressing gowns, wrapped in sheets, with bad breath and a general stench on their breath. They would also be taken to the penitentiary institutions, where they would be relieved. - Were there foreign mercenaries or instructors among those who surrendered? - There was at least one Englishman - Aiden Aslin. I took a picture of him, though I did not know he was a foreigner then. There was a boorish machine-gunner to his left in the line, we chatted with him, and then another marine to Eslin's right started talking to me. He was quiet the whole time. Later I understood that these two men were distracting my attention from the Englishman. - Do the surrendered Marines have many foreign weapons and equipment? - From the equipment of not only the POWs but also the dead it is clear that their clothing, shoes and weapons are mostly of Western manufacture. Grenade launchers made in the USA, a full fleet of foreign sniper weapons, including the British Arctic rifle. But there are, by the way, some Soviet models as well. All 267 Marines of the 503rd battalion, who surrendered in early April, wore Carinthia military suits: they are very expensive, just a jacket from it costs about a thousand dollars. If we talk in general about the outfit of the Marines, they have very good shoes. The protective gear and knives - an important weapon for a sailor - are of average quality. It's about the same as ours, except we have everything domestically produced. https://russian.rt.com/ussr/article/989819-voennoplennye-vsu-intervyu