A Russian court has sentenced two Ukrainian soldiers of the Azov Brigade to more than 20 years in prison for allegedly killing civilians in the city of Mariupol in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, Russia's Investigative Committee announced on June 9 on Telegram.

Russia has held a number of sham trials with Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) over the past years, focusing in particular on Azov fighters captured during the war. Azov has been demonized by Russian propaganda for years.

Russian authorities accuse sniper Ruslan Orlov and paramedic Artem Novikov of shooting three civilians in Mariupol in April 2022. The Russian court sentenced Orlov to 26 years in a strict regime colony, and Novikov to 24 years.

Ukraine has not yet commented on the Russian Investigative Committee's statement.

Russia's months-long siege of Mariupol between February and May 2022 reduced the port city to a landscape of rubble and killed thousands.

In the meantime, the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance at the onset of the all-out war, as Ukrainian soldiers valiantly defended the plant under the Russian siege.

On May 16, 2022, Azovstal defenders were ordered to surrender to the encircling Russian forces after nearly two months of constant bombardment of the besieged plant.

The evacuation from Azovstal ended on May 20, 2022, with Ukrainian soldiers transferred to a penal colony in Russian-occupied Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, now infamous as the site of the mass killing of Azov fighters.

On July 28, an explosion killed 54 Ukrainian prisoners of war and injured over 150 at the Olenivka penal colony. Many of them were members of Azov.

While hundreds of Azov fighters have been released since 2022, hundreds more remain in captivity.

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A total of 1,279 of the approximately 2,500 Azov fighters held in Russian captivity as POWs have been returned to Ukraine since being captured, including 455 from the Azov Brigade, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said on May 28.

The confirmed statistic, which includes soldiers in multiple units who fought to defend the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol, comes amid social media outcry criticizing Ukrainian authorities for failing to return certain captives, including Azov fighters, during the war's largest 1,000-for-1,000 POW exchange, which concluded on May 25.

"Behind each number is a human life, and no statistics can replace loved ones for individual families," Andrii Yusov, deputy head of the Coordination Headquarters told Radio Liberty on May 28.

Ukrainian society has rallied for captured Azov fighters who defended the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol during the Russian siege of the port city in 2022. The battle, one of the most brutal of the entire war, is credited with buying time for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to prepare itself and receive international military aid against Russia's invasion during the initial phase of the war.

Azovstal defenders were ordered to surrender to the encircling Russian forces after nearly two months of constant bombardment of the besieged plant. While hundreds of these fighters have been released since 2022, hundreds more remain in captivity.

Colonel Denys Prokopenko, commander of the Azov National Guard Brigade, described the 1,000-for-1,000 exchange as a "mockery" due to the lack of fighters from the Azov Brigade, in a post on Facebook on May 25.

"Ukraine is fighting for every one of its citizens. We are working under extremely difficult conditions amid the full-scale invasion, and the Mariupol garrison remains one of the top priorities for repatriation," Yusov said on May 25 in response to to the frustration seen on social media.

Ukraine has long advocated for an "all-for-all" exchange, but Russia has so far rejected the proposal.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, following the mass exchange, pledged to "bring back every single one of our people from Russian captivity."

The three days of prisoner exchanges were negotiated by Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul on May 16th, during the first direct talks between the two countries in three years.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on May 28 that Moscow has proposed June 2 as the date for the next round of talks with Ukraine in Istanbul.

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Ukraine’s recent large-scale prisoner exchange with Russia did not include any members of the 12th Special Operations Brigade Azov, according to a statement by the National Guard’s 1st Corps Azov. The three-day swap, which concluded today, involved the return of 1000 prisoners on each side but left out the Azov fighters who had defended Mariupol in early 2022.

In a statement published on Telegram, the National Guard Corps Azov welcomed the exchange of members of two National Guard’s brigades – 14th Chervona Kalyna and 15th Kara-Dag – among those 1,000 prisoners who returned home over the past three days,

“We welcome home every soldier who today returned to their native land. Together we will restore our strength and defend Ukraine with even greater determination,” the statement said.

Then Azov confirmed:

“However, there were no servicemen of the 12th Brigade Azov in this exchange.”

The soldiers of Azov – the National Guard’s regiment at the time – had held off Russian forces alongside marines and local police for 86 days during the siege of Mariupol, delaying their advance and enabling Ukraine to organize its national defense. The defenders of Azovstal steel plant – the last Ukrainian stronghold in the city – were captured after the Ukrainian command ordered them to surrender.

“The fighters who were taken into captivity following orders after 86 days of defending Mariupol have been there for over 3 years,” Azov’s statement reads. “Over 800 Azov fighters are in their fourth year of captivity.”