Ukrainian intelligence maintain communication with captured defenders of Mariupol, taken from the territory of Azovstal to the temporarily occupied territories.
This was announced by Ministerof Internal affears Denis Monastyrskyy, Radio Svoboda reports.
“Today, our intelligence from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense communicate with the captured Azov Regiment soldiers. It is through them that we learn more about the conditions of detention, food and the possibility of their release. We all know that they will all be here in Kyiv. and we are doing everything possible for that,” he said.
On 30 May, relatives of the captured defenders of Mariupol said at a briefing that they had no contact with the fighters.
As stated earlier, the defenders of Mariupol remained at the plant until they received an order to stop defending the city and save the lives of the fighters. The fighters also carried out a preliminary order to draw russian forces in and allow the Ukrainian army to regroup, train more personnel and receive a large number of weapons from partner countries. Soldiers of the Azov Regiment, Marines of the 36th Brigade, border guards, and law enforcement officers remained at the plant. Thanks to their defence, about 20,000 enemy personnel were not allowed to be transferred. Thus, the russian Federation failed to quickly capture Zaporizhzhia, to create conditions for the encirclement of the united forces.
On 30 May, the MID, the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the Border Guard Service jointly launched an operation to rescue defenders of Mariupol blocked on the territory of the Azovstal plant. The commanders were the last to leave the plant. The soldiers were taken to the temporarily occupied territories. 53 seriously injured people were evacuated to a medical facility in occupied Novoazovsk for medical treatment, and another 211 people were taken to occupied Olenivka through a humanitarian corridor. An exchange procedure will be carried out to return them home. The State Duma of russia has already begun to say that they may ban the exchange.
According to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar, there was no other formula for rescuing the fighters than the one used. The operation to return the defenders home continues. It is planned to exchange our seriously wounded servicemen after their condition stabilizes.