The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army says orders have been issued to save the lives of the soldiers stationed at the Azovstal steelworks. For several weeks they have been surrounded and have been subjected to almost continuous Russian attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirms this, saying “we hope to save the lives of our men.”
– I want to emphasize: Ukraine needs its Ukrainian heroes alive. This is our principle, he said in a video statement.
Woundingly evacuated
On Monday, Russia and Ukraine agreed on a ceasefire to evacuate wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the Azovstal steelworks, and more than 260 Ukrainian soldiers have been evacuated.
– EXPLOSION: Smoke rose earlier this month from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. Photo: Alexei Alexandrov / AP
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– 53 seriously injured were evacuated from Azovstal to Novoazovsk for medical treatment, says Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar in a statement.
Reuters has published photos of buses that have arrived in Novoazovsk in Donetsk escorted by pro-Russian forces.
Another 211 soldiers were evacuated via humanitarian corridors to another Russian-controlled city, Olenivka. These soldiers are being sent back to Ukraine as part of an agreement with Russia on prisoner exchanges.
Working to bring out more soldiers
Russia and Ukraine have in recent days negotiated an agreement that would ensure free movement for the Ukrainian soldiers who are locked inside the steelworks. The negotiations have been described as “extremely difficult” by Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
– HUGE: The huge Azovstal steelworks was once a shelter for around 1,000 civilians and 2,000 soldiers, according to Ukrainian sources. The photo was taken on 12 May and shows the eastern part of the industrial area. Photo: Maxar Technologies via AP / NTB
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She stated last week that there were over 1,000 soldiers left in the steelworks, and that hundreds of these were injured.
Deputy Minister of Defense Maljar now says that work is being done to bring out the remaining soldiers who are inside the steelworks.
– Thanks to the defenders of Mariupol. Ukraine won crucial time, and they followed their orders. But it is impossible to break through the siege of Azovstal by military means, she says.
The siege for more than 80 days
The heavily bombed steelworks has been the last stronghold for the remaining Ukrainian forces in the city, which has been besieged shortly after the Russian invasion began on 24 February.
Many civilians have also been in the steelworks, but most of them were evacuated in the last month with assistance from the UN and the Red Cross.
The strategically located port city was heavily bombed from the start of the invasion. By taking control of the city, Russia was able to secure a land bridge between separatist-controlled Donbas to the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed in 2014, and such control over more than 80 percent of the Black Sea coast of Ukraine.
– 80 DAYS: For over 80 days, the Azov regiment held its ground in the besieged Azovstal steelworks. A wounded soldier greets the photographer from the Azov regiment. The photo was taken on May 10. Photo: The Ukrainian National Guard’s press office via AP / NTB
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– By concentrating the enemy’s main forces around Mariupol, we got the opportunity to prepare and create lines of defense, where our forces are ready today to repel the attacker. It gave us critical time to form reserves, regroup forces and receive assistance from partners, it says in a statement from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army.
The soldiers are hailed
The soldiers who were the steelworks are hailed by the Ukrainian defense for the 82 days they stood.
– They followed orders and persevered against a superior enemy, says Denys Prokopenko, who is commander of the Azov battalion, in a video speech according to the newspaper Kyiv Independent.
President Zelensky thanks the soldiers in a post on Telegram.
“Thanks to the Ukrainian military, Ukrainian armed forces, intelligence, the negotiating team, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations, we hope we will be able to save the lives of our people,” he wrote.
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