Ukraine War: More than 200 Ukrainian soldiers are being evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant after weeks of resistance | World News
More than 200 Ukrainian soldiers are being evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol after weeks of resistance against Russian aggression.
About 53 soldiers are being taken to a hospital in the Russian-controlled town of Novoazovsk, about 30 kilometers to the east, according to Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Hanna Malyar.
Another 211 people are being taken to Olenivka, about 55 miles north, through humanitarian corridors, she said, adding that they would be exchanged with Russian military prisoners before returning home.
For weeks, the soldiers were the last remaining resistance to the Russian advance in Mariupol, a strategically important city on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov.
Malyar said: “Thanks to the defenders of Mariupol, Ukraine had a very important time and they completed all their tasks. But it was not possible to stop Azovstal by military means.
“We are working to save those still in Azovstal,” she added, but did not say how many remained.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday evening: “Thanks to the actions of the Ukrainian military – Ukrainian Armed Forces, intelligence, as well as the negotiating team, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN, we hopefully we will be able to save our boys’ lives.
“There are seriously injured people among them – they are being cared for.
“I want to emphasize that Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive. This is our principle. I think the right people will understand these words.”
Earlier, on Monday, Russia announced an agreement for wounded Ukrainian soldiers to leave a steel plant for treatment in a town held by pro-Moscow separatists.
On Monday night, five buses were seen leaving the steel mill with soldiers inside.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Facebook: “The Supreme Military Command has ordered the commanders of the units stationed in Azovstal to save the lives of the personnel.
“Attempts to rescue the remaining defenders in Azovstal’s territory continue.”
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At one point it was thought that there were several thousand Ukrainian troops in the steel structures, along with several hundred civilians, when Russian troops entered.
The Azov Regiment said its troops in Mariupol, a strategically important city in southern Ukraine, held out for 82 days, in order to buy time for the rest of Ukraine to fight Russian forces and secure weapons of the West.
For much of that time, the soldiers in Mariupol – along with the rest of the civilians – faced severe shortages of food, water, electricity, ammunition and medicine.
Ukraine says that tens of thousands of people have been killed in Mariupol, most of which now lie in ruins.
