According to Telegram of the Russian Defense Ministry, from the territory of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, the wounded Ukrainian army began to be removed along the humanitarian corridor. The relevant agreement between the parties was reached on 16 May. Silence was brought to the area around the business.
“As a result of negotiations with representatives of the Ukrainian military personnel blocked on the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol, an agreement was reached on the removal of the wounded,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are transferred to a medical facility in Novoazovsk, Donetsk People’s Republic, to provide them with all necessary assistance.
Commander of the battalion “Vostok” of the DPR Alexander Khodakovsky said on the question of transporting the wounded. “Assisted by us to speed up the process to provide additional stretchers,” he said.
Earlier, Khodakovsky reported that 10 people left the territory of Azovstal and surrendered. “The first ten soldiers with a white flag came out of our “our” tunnel – we are still crushing it,” he wrote. Later, the commander explained that a group of people represented the interests of a larger group located in the basements.
How knowledgeable Today, the headquarters of the territorial defense, 219 people, including 40 children, were evacuated from Mariupol to Bezymennoye from 8:00 to 16:00. They are now at the aid point of the Ministry of Emergencies.
Earlier, the DPR stated that no civilians remained on the territory of Azovstal.
How were civilians evacuated?
Russian and DNR forces took control of Mariupol in mid-April. The Ukrainian army and part of the civilians took refuge on the territory of the industrial zone and in the basements of Azovstal. The facility has an underground floor system. Since the storming of such an object could cause a large number of casualties among the military of the Russian Federation, President Vladimir Putin ordered to block it not to the storm, but “so that the fly does not fly.” On May 4, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a conference call that the remnants of the Ukrainian military group were blocked along the entire perimeter of Azovstal.
On April 23, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky promised that if “our people in Mariupol are destroyed”, Kiev will withdraw from any negotiations with Moscow. He then repeated the May 6 threat, saying that the death of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians in Azovstal would destroy the negotiations.
During a meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Moscow on April 26, Putin agreed on the evacuation of civilians from the facility with the participation of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The first civilian group was evacuated from Azovstal on May 1 – about 100 people were transferred to Zaporozhye. On May 6, 50 more women, children and the elderly were evacuated from the factory. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, between May 5 and 7, 18 men, 22 women and 11 children were evacuated from the enterprise.
May 13, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Reintegration of Uncontrolled Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk statedKyiv wants to sign a document on how the evacuation from the territory of the factory will take place.
14 May Turkey announced about being ready to send a ship to evacuate people from Azovstal. Ankara’s plan required people to be transported by land to the port of Berdyansk and further transported to Istanbul by a Turkish ship. Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov has asked Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to facilitate the evacuation and not to be fooled by “criminals who want to avoid prosecution”. In particular, he claims that members of the Azov battalion are known for their regular statements that “denigrate great Islamic values and ridicule Islam in general.”
Source: Gazeta
