The Ukrainian Defence Ministry has confirmed the reports of evacuation of injured Ukrainian soldiers from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol to the territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk “people’s republic” (“DPR”), Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar stated.
According to her, 53 badly wounded soldiers were taken to “DPR”-controlled Novoazovsk, while another 211 were evacuated through a humanitarian corridor to Olenivka, a village in Crimea. Ukraine plans to hold a prisoner swap with Russia to return the Azovstal soldiers to Ukraine-controlled territory.
According to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the military leadership ordered the commanders of the units remaining at Azovstal to preserve the life of the soldiers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the evacuation in the early hours of Tuesday. “Thanks to the actions of the Ukrainian military — the Armed Forces of Ukraine, intelligence, the negotiating team, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations, we hope that we will be able to save the lives of our guys. Among them are the seriously wounded, they are being provided with medical aid. I want to emphasise: Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive. This is our principle,” he said in a video message published on his Telegram channel.
The Ukrainian leader stressed that the rescue operation is still ongoing.
The Russian Defence Ministry reported on Monday afternoon that the injured Ukrainian soldiers would be evacuated from Azovstal. On Monday evening, reporters working for Russian state TV and other media began to publish footage of the evacuation. The footage shows medical workers carrying a wounded man in camouflage uniform out of an ambulance. Reuters reported, citing eyewitnesses, that 12 buses with Ukrainian soldiers had left Azovstal.
