Mariupol defenders have fulfilled their task completely. Thanks to their service, the transfer of about 20,000 enemy personnel was not allowed. Thus, the enemy failed to quickly capture Zaporizhzhya, to create conditions for the encirclement of the united forces. The defence of Mariupol provided critical time for the creation of defensive lines and the formation of reserves.
This was announced at a briefing by Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine Hanna Malyar, reports LB.
"Issue number one today is the rescue operation of our soldiers, serving in Mariupol, our defenders. Yesterday we reported that this operation is conducted jointly by several defence agencies. These are: the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the National Guard of Ukraine and the Border Service "Joint operations were launched by the above-mentioned units, and yesterday was the first stage. We said that 53 seriously injured people were evacuated. Also 211 people were evacuated in satisfactory condition. The operation will be carried out until these people return to the territory controlled by Ukraine," she said.
She recalled that the military unblocking remains impossible in the current situation.
"There is no other formula of salvation than the one currently used, can’t be in this situation. It was the only way out," Malyar said.
The Deputy Minister stressed that all defenders of Mariupol "have fulfilled their task completely." Thanks to their defense, the enemy was not allowed to overthrow. We are talking about about 20 thousand personnel. The enemy could not transfer them to other regions.
"Thus, the enemy failed to capture Zaporizhia quickly and failed to create conditions for the encirclement of the united forces and, most importantly, the defense of Mariupol gave us critical time to create defensive lines and form reserves, and other very important actions," she added.
According to her, "the rescue process and the operation itself are ongoing. This topic is extremely sensitive. And this means that we cannot provide information about its details. Because any information can harm this process."
Yesterday in the Ministry of Defense reported that MID, SSU, National Guard, Border service together began operation of rescue of the defenders of Mariupol blocked on the territory of the Azovstal plant. It was reported that 53 seriously injured people were evacuated to a medical facility in occupied Novoazovsk for medical care, and another 211 people were taken to occupied Olenivka through a humanitarian corridor. An exchange procedure will be carried out to return them home.
It is planned to exchange our seriously wounded servicemen after their condition stabilizes.
The families of the military called on Chinese leader Xi Jinping to influence russia to allow the extraction of military personnel to a third country so that they could remain there until the end of the war. Turkey has agreed to be the third country.