President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told about the first stage of the evacuation mission from "Azovstal". He noted that more than 300 people, women and children, were rescued.
The Office of the President reported this information.
"We took civilians out of ‘Azovstal’. We managed to rescue more than 300 people, who are women and children. We took civilians out of ‘Azovstal’. And now, we are organizing the second stage of the evacuation mission to rescue the wounded and medics. It will happen if everybody does what was agreed on. If there is no lie!" says the message.
“Of course, we are also working on how to rescue our military. All the heroes who defend Mariupol. This is extremely difficult. But it is crucial. I'm sure everyone understands the main reason for this complication and where this reason is. But we do not lose hope. We do not stop. Every day we are looking for a diplomatic option that can work.
Tomorrow, our team will begin work on making humanitarian corridors work for all residents of Mariupol and surrounding municipalities.
I held a meeting today on the executive authorities' actions. The main issues are economic. One of them is how to provide Ukrainians with fuel and overcome the fuel shortage that we faced after russian missiles destroyed our Kremenchuk plant and oil product depots across the country.
I listened to reports on what is being done specifically to organize the supply of a sufficient amount of gasoline and other fuels to Ukraine. The critical task for government officials is to speed up fuel transportation from European ports to our consumers. The volume of such transportation should increase daily.
I also listened to a report of the Minister of Finance on the state budget implementation.
We are doing everything to ensure that the state fulfills its all social obligations despite the budget deficit and the russian army's deliberate destruction of our economy. We also discussed the preparation of the Post-War Recovery Plan. This is a very large-scale task. But I do not doubt that we will implement it.
Today I was in Borodianka, the Kyiv region. It is gradually returning to normal life.
The Head of the Office of the President, Andriy Yermak, and the Minister of Infrastructure, Oleksandr Kubrakov, inspected the restored railway bridge over the Irpin River; it is already open for trains. Today we can say that the cities and amalgamated communities of the Kyiv region are liberated from the occupiers and have proper transport connections.
In the evening, I traditionally signed decrees on rewarding our defenders.
Two hundred sixteen servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine received state awards. The title of Hero of Ukraine was awarded to Colonel Oleh Hehechkor (posthumously), Commander of the Helicopter Squadron of the 11th Separate Brigade of the Army Aviation of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Eternal glory to all who stood up to defend our state!
Eternal memory to everyone who gave their life for Ukraine!”