Vice Prime Minister and the Minister of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, Iryna Vereshchuk, believes that the influence of world leaders on the evacuation of Ukrainian troops from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol should not be exaggerated. Because would this influence be appropriate, there would be no war.
She emphasized that the authorities continue to work to save the fighters. However, negotiations with the enemy are very tough.
"The heart of the country today is Azovstal. In addition to Azovs, fighters from the Armed Forces, National Guards, border guards, State Security services, police, and territorial defense are there. I share the anxiety and worries of the relatives of the defenders of that fortress. War means blood and tears. There are no miracles in war - tough reality instead. That is why only a sober and pragmatic approach works," the Vice Prime Minister explained.
Vereshchuk reminded that the president has ordered: "to do everything possible and impossible to get our people out of there."
"The team is working. Negotiations with the enemy are very difficult. The result may not satisfy everyone. But our task is to get our guys out. Everyone. Alive. God help, we will save everyone," the official concluded.
Earlier, Vereshchuk announced that the severely wounded could be evacuated from Azovstal with the mediation of Turkey.
According to the official, since it is impossible to unblock Azovstal by military means, the invaders are offered an exchange "following standard rules": Ukraine extracts seriously wounded defenders through an agreed humanitarian corridor and releases russian prisoners of war to russia according to standard rules of prisoner exchange.
Yesterday, the leader of the Crimean Tatar people, Mustafa Dzhemilev, said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had asked Putin to allow Azovstal's defenders to be taken to Turkey through the port of Berdyansk. But russia refused.