Biletskyi on Azovstal defenders: they are on the spot with weapons in hands

DENYS KARLOVSKYI - TUESDAY, 17 MAY 2022, 20:06

The founder of the Azov Regiment and the leader of the National Corps Party, Andrii Biletskyi, said he is in contact with Ukrainian Azovstal defenders and asked people not to comment on the progress of their evacuation.

Source: Biletskyi's Telegram Channel

Quote from Biletskyi: "For 82 days the boys have been fighting in unimaginable conditions. For more than 70 days they have been completely encircled, but have held the enemy at bay despite being massively outnumbered, and despite terrible bombardment from the air, from ships, from artillery, and so on.

They did things that will definitely come in, that should be included in military history textbooks. Now the main task is to save the "steel people". Of course, Ukraine will still need them.

The main thing now is not to harm the operation to save the fighters with your conjectures, ideas, or any inside information. Therefore, I have a big request for all those who want to share their thoughts on what is happening on Azovstal, or for those who have any "secrets" or "inside information" and want to share this "inside information" with the whole world - keep this to yourself, as well as your own thoughts. 

In two or three days, I think that the garrison itself will prove, will make it clear how everything went, how everything happened."

Details: Biletskyi said that he had contact with the servicemen of the Azov regiment, and insisted that everything is fine with them and they are "on the spot with weapons in hands."

The military-political leadership of Ukraine has not yet commented on the evacuation. Earlier, representatives of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine stated that the defenders had been ordered to save the lives of all servicemen who remained in the underground bunkers at Azovstal.

For reference: Andrii Biletskyi was the first commander of the Azov Battalion during the first stage of the Russian-Ukrainian war - the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Donbas in 2014-2015. When a regular regiment of the same name was formed on the basis of Azov as part of the National Guard, Biletskyi began to form public organisations called Azov and called himself the "Leader of the Azov Movement."

Background :

• Correspondents of the international news agency Reuters reported that 7 buses with Ukrainian servicemen had left the territory of Azovstal as part of a Russian convoy of armoured vehicles.
• On Wednesday, the State Duma of the Russian Federation will consider a draft resolution banning the exchange of prisoners from Azovstal and the introduction of the death penalty for war criminals.
• Russian investigators have said they plan to interrogate fighters from the Mariupol garrison who were taken out of Azovstal.
• On the afternoon of 17 April, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence Hanna Malyar insisted that there was no other way to save the defenders of Mariupol than to evacuate through Russian-controlled territory. She gave assurances that the military-political leadership of Ukraine will demand the return of all servicemen to territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.
• On 16 May, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that an agreement had been reached regarding the evacuation of wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the besieged Azovstal plant in Mariupol to Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. The commander of the Azov regiment, Denys Prokopenko, stated that the defenders of Mariupol had completed their task and he wants to save the lives of his subordinates.