A dozen vehicles evacuate about 260 wounded soldiers to two towns in Donetsk controlled by rebels loyal to the Kremlin
After 82 consecutive days of resistance against the Kremlin forces, the wounded soldiers who defended their position at the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol until the last day were evacuated Monday night to Moscow-controlled areas to receive medical treatment. stated by the Russian Defense Ministry, information later confirmed by the Kiev government. “There can be no rescue formula other than the current one. It was the only way out,” said Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar, pointing out that her work gave us “critical time to create defense lines, form a reserve and other very important actions of the military operation.” , he continued, is the most important thing to save their lives.
According to the agreement reached by both sides, some 260 wounded soldiers would be evacuated to Novoazovsk and Olenevka. In the early hours, about a dozen buses with Russian escorts left Azovstal. Images from agencies and local media showed dozens of soldiers in bandages and on stretchers. Some are missing a limb of the body, such as an arm or a leg.
Five buses and an armored car, as published by Reuters on Tuesday, transported 53 seriously injured soldiers to a hospital in Novoazovsk, about 40 kilometers from Mariúpol, in the Donetsk region, in an area ruled by pro-Russian separatists. have controlled areas in eastern Ukraine since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula. Located on the coast of the Sea of Azov, the city has about 11,000 inhabitants on an area of 8 square kilometers.
On the other hand, 211 defenders were transferred via a humanitarian corridor to a hospital in Olenevka, a town in the Volnovaya district, also in the Donetsk region and controlled by the pro-Russian rebels. This is a somewhat smaller location than the first. It has only 4.7 square kilometers and is home to about 4,700 inhabitants. It is a center of agricultural, livestock and food industries, such as bakeries and pastas.
His return home will not be as soon as the families of those affected had expected. It will be necessary to first wait for his health to improve and, later, to negotiate with Moscow about his return to the territory controlled by Ukrainian troops. “Once their condition stabilises, we will exchange them for Russian prisoners of war,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshuk said in a statement. “We are working on the next phases of the humanitarian operation,” he added.
Meanwhile, families wait for the time to embrace their “heroes” again. “They fulfilled their mission 200% and we need them alive,” said Natalya Zaritskaya, the wife of one of the Azovstal fighters.
Source: La Verdad
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