The Russian Ministry of Defence has announced that they have agreed upon the evacuation of the wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, according to RIA Novosti.
“The negotiations with the representatives of the Ukrainian military blocked in the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol have resulted in an agreement to evacuate the wounded,” reads the Ministry’s statement.
The Ukrainian soldiers are being escorted to a hospital in Novoazovsk, a town controlled by the so-called ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’. The Russian soldiers have promised to open an evacuation corridor and maintain a ceasefire. It is unknown how many soldiers have agreed to be evacuated. The Ukrainian officials have not confirmed the agreement.
Aleksandr Khodakovsky, a ‘DPR militia’ brigade commander, claimed that nine Ukrainian soldiers had approached the Russian troops carrying white flags earlier today. Khodakovsky also claimed that they had been acting on behalf of “a larger group of soldiers”. The spokesperson of the legitimate Mariupol city council called this news ‘fake’.
The city was surrounded in the early days of the war and remained under siege for more than six weeks. The Azovstal steel plant remains Ukraine’s only defencive position in the besieged Mariupol.
The defenders of the steelworks reported numerous times that many of them were wounded and were in dire need of medical aid. “Absolute lack of sanitation, soldiers with open wounds bandaged with non-sterile pieces of gauze, no necessary medications and no food,” this is how the remaining soldiers described their situation. They were calling on the UN and the ICRC to help rescue the wounded soldiers no longer involved in active combat. The wives of the defenders addressed Pope Francis asking him to help them evacuate their husbands “to another country”. Turkey declared that they were ready to send a rescue ship earlier.
“Only one Azov member managed to get home alive after being captured by the Russians since 2014. He was severely injured, had most of his teeth missing and his innards damaged. Others were tortured to death. This is why the Azovstal defenders are not going to surrender themselves,” one of the wives said.
