Vyacheslav Volodin, the Chairman of Russia’s State Duma, also commented on the report on Thursday. In his Telegram post, he claimed that the “militants at Azovstal had suggested swapping the remaining civilians there for food and medicine.” Volodin also revealed the terms of the alleged deal – “fifteen hostages for a ton of food, as well as medicine.” He also added that the Ukrainian troops supposedly “warned that they would no longer release anyone to Ukraine,” but rather exchange for goods.

The Russian politician accused the Ukrainian forces of having first lured civilians into the steelworks, only to later use them as human shields and attempt to trade them for food. According to Volodin, the besieged pro-Kiev troops effectively equated a human life with 66.6 kilograms of goods. The Russian official claimed that the Ukrainian fighters were only interested in saving their own hides.

He described this behavior as typical of “terrorists.”