An appeal from the regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Denys Prokopenko, was made public in the Telegram channel of the Azov Regiment.
He informed that the Ukrainian leadership ordered the defenders of Mariupol to stop defending the city and save the lives of the defenders.
"86 days of defense of Mariupol. The top military leadership issued an order to save the lives and health of garrison soldiers and stop defending the city. Despite heavy battles, circular defense and lack of supplies, we constantly emphasized the three most important conditions for us: civilians, injured and dead people ", - Prokopenko said.
He pointed out that civilians were evacuated. The seriously injured people received the necessary aid.
According to Prokopenko, they were evacuated on terms of further exchange and delivery to the territory controlled by Ukraine.
"As for the dead heroes, the process continues. I hope that in the near future relatives and the whole of Ukraine will be able to bury their soldiers with honors. Glory to Ukraine!" - the commander of the Azov Regiment said.
To remind, on May 16, the Main Intelligence Directorate, the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the Border Guard Service jointly began an operation to rescue defenders of Mariupol blocked on the territory of the Azovstal plant. 53 seriously injured people were evacuated to a hospital in occupied Novoazovsk. Another 211 people were taken through the humanitarian corridor to occupied Olenivka. An exchange procedure will be carried out to return them home.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was registering the soldiers being evacuating from Azovstal.
Yesterday, the deputy commander of "Azov", Captain Svyatoslav Palamar (Kalyna) said that some of the Ukrainian defenders are still on Azovstal - "a certain operation" is underway.