A total of 264 Ukrainian soldiers were evacuated this Monday from the Azovstal steelworks, in the town of Mariupol, in the east of the country, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported. Of the total, 53 serious injuries were transferred to a medical center in Novoazovsk for receive medical careand the other 211 people were taken to Olenivka through the humanitarian corridor, the ministry added in a statement.
“As for the defenders who still remain in the territory of Azovstal, rescue efforts are being carried out thanks to joint efforts” from the GUR of the Defense Ministry, the Armed Forces, the National Guard and the Border Guard Service, he added.
“Thanks to the defenders of Mariupolwe have bought critical time to form reserves, regroup forces and receive assistance from partners”, explained the Ministry of Defense, which admitted that unfortunately you cannot unlock Azovstal by military means. The steel mill has become an icon of the Ukrainian resistance since Russia began its invasion of the country on February 24.
“The most important common task of all Ukraine and the whole world is save the lives of the defenders of Mariupol”sentenced.
Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereschuk said last week that in the steel mill there were between 500 and 600 wounded soldiersbut that the parties were negotiating at the moment the evacuation of the “most serious”, which she estimated at 38 people.
The Russian Ministry of Defense had already informed this Monday in Moscow of a agreement to evacuate Ukrainian fighters injured at the Azovstal steelworks.
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“On May 16 as a result of negotiations with the representatives of the Ukrainian military blockaded on the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant an agreement was reached for the evacuation of the wounded”said a Defense statement without specifying the number.
He added that a ceasefire has now been established in the area and a humanitarian corridor has been opened through which wounded soldiers are taken out and “transferred to a medical center in Novoazovsk in the People’s Republic of Donetskwhere they will be given all the necessary assistance”.