Withdrawal of military from Azovstal will be completed soon, Zelensky says
The withdrawal of the Ukrainian military from the territory of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, which is surrounded by enemies, should be completed shortly. This statement was made by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
RBC-Ukraine reports.
The head of state shared details of the evacuation of the Ukrainian military from Azovstal. Currently, civilians, medics, and wounded soldiers have left the plant.
"What's next. To date, all civilians who were blocked at the plant have been taken away. Civilians have been taken out, medics have been taken out, and the seriously wounded and wounded have been taken away. I know what is happening at the moment. I think in the nearest time, even days, we will take out everyone," Zelensky declared.
The Ukrainian president also recalled the evacuation preparation process. In particular, he negotiated with several foreign leaders for mediation between Ukraine and russia.
"The structure is complicated. It was agreed that the mediators would unblock, I agreed with Turkey, Switzerland, and Israel, with France at first. Because of the leaders' relationships with russian president, we saw that we couldn't unblock with military means."
Earlier it was reported that Azov fighters have been leaving the bunkers of the Azovstal plant since May 16: the seriously wounded were taken to a hospital in the ORDO, and others are being detained and interrogated by russians. The fate of the fallen heroes was unknown.
russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that from May 16 to May 20, 1,908 Ukrainian "nationalists" from the Azovstal plant had been "captured," and before that 1,387 Marines had "laid down their arms" there.
According to Shoigu, 177 civilians were rescued from the plant, including 85 women and 47 children.
The Ukrainian side has not commented on the operation to rescue the Mariupol garrison, the authorities have only confirmed the order to save the lives of personnel.
On May 19, Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, said that he and he still remained on the territory of the Azovstal plant.
