Evacuations have begun from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, which is under siege by the Russian army. President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelenskiy announced that the 1st group of about 100 people from the Azovstal factory was evacuated to the safe zone, “The evacuation of civilians from Azovstal has begun. The 1st group of about 100 people is already going to the safe zone. Tomorrow we will meet them in Zaporizhia. We are grateful to our team.”
“More than 350 thousand civilians were evicted”
Zelenskiy said that since Russia launched the war on Ukraine, more than 350 thousand people have been evacuated from the war zones as a result of negotiations with the Russian side, thanks to the arrangement of humanitarian corridors.
“The organization of humanitarian corridors is one of the elements of the ongoing negotiation process with Russia. It is very complex. Yet, no matter how difficult, we managed to save more than 350 thousand people from the battlefields,” said Vladimir Zelenskiy. Noting that the evacuation of people from Azovstal was organized after weeks of negotiations with the Russian side, Zelenskiy emphasized that he hoped that all the conditions for the evacuation would be met tomorrow and that people would be evacuated from Mariupol again.
Ukrainian negotiator and Chairman of the Servant of the People Party, David Arakhamia, also noted that the most difficult evacuation operation since the start of the war was carried out today, adding that women, children and the elderly were among those evacuated from Azovstal.
Noting that the partial evacuation of civilians from Azovstal was successful, Arakhamia said, “More than 100 Ukrainians, including children, women and the elderly, are finally safe.” said.
RUSSIA ALSO ANNOUNCED evacuations
In the statement made by the Russian Ministry of Defense, it was stated that the Russian Armed Forces and the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic forces opened a humanitarian corridor for the safe evacuation of civilians from the factory site and provided a “silent regime”.
“Thanks to the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, it was possible to rescue 80 civilians, including women and children, from the Azovstal plant site in Mariupol, who were in the hands of Ukrainian nationalists,” the statement said. expressions were used.
Emphasizing that the liberated civilians were evacuated to the Bezimennoye settlement, the statement said that they were provided with accommodation, food and medical aid.
In the statement, it was stated that among the civilians evacuated from the Azovstal factory by Russian soldiers, those who wanted to go to the areas controlled by the Kyiv administration were handed over to the representatives of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that two groups of civilians, 25 and 21 people, in the Azovstal Metallurgical Factory in Mariupol, exited using the humanitarian corridor during the day and evening yesterday. (AA)