Russia says wounded Ukrainian soldiers will be evacuated from Azovstal to Russian-occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts
Kateryna Tyshchenko – Monday, 16 May 2022, 16:29
The Russian Ministry of Defence says that an agreement has been reached regarding the evacuation of wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the besieged Azovstal plant in Mariupol to the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.
Source: Interfax, citing the Russian Ministry of Defence
Quote from the Russian Ministry of Defence: "On 16 May, an agreement has been reached regarding the evacuation of the wounded [soldiers] as a result of negotiations with the Ukrainian military personnel blocked at the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol."
Details: According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, a ceasefire at Azovstal has already begun and a humanitarian corridor has been opened to transport wounded Ukrainian soldiers to a hospital in Russian-occupied Novoazovsk, a town located in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts.
Background:
- On 15 May, Petro Andriushchenko, Advisor to Mariupol Mayor, said that Russian troops have once again deployed either incendiary or phosphorous ammunition against Ukrainian soldiers defending Azovstal.
- Mariupol has been under the Russian siege since 1 March. Ukrainian soldiers defending Mariupol – the Azov Regiment, marines, border guards, and police officers – have been encircled and blockaded by Russian troops at the Azovstal plant since late April.
- Civilians have been evacuated from Azovstal. Russia continues to oppose all measures that would make an evacuation of Ukrainian soldiers possible, even though Turkey is prepared to evacuate them by sea and to guarantee their non-participation in combat actions in Ukraine.
- Nearly 600 wounded soldiers remain in Azovstal bunkers without access to medicine and food and in anti-sanitary conditions. The Ukrainian government is trying to arrange the evacuation of at least 60 of the most heavily wounded soldiers.
