On the territory of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol blocked by the Russian military, there are about 600 wounded soldiers of the Ukrainian forces, the commander of the 12th operational brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, Denis Shlega, said on the air of the national telethon.
According to him, of the hundreds of wounded, about 40 people are in a very serious condition. Schlega noted that medicines and medical instruments are “really lacking”, he called the situation difficult, writes Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty.
As noted, the same information was confirmed on May 15 at an online conference by the spouses of the defenders at Azovstal – Ekaterina Prokopenko, Yulia Fedosyuk, Anna Naumenko and Daria Tsikunova. According to them, their husbands drink a glass of industrial water a day and have very few food supplies. At the plant, many seriously wounded soldiers die due to lack of medicine, and there have been cases of amputations without anesthesia, participants of the conference said. They called again to save their loved ones. Women are going to come to Turkey to get a meeting with the president of the country and ask Recep Erdogan to help their husbands.
TV channel “Real Time” got in touch with a fighter of the Azov regiment (extreme right volunteer group, which is part of the National Guard of Ukraine) Dmitry Kozatsky. He also said that out of 600-700 wounded soldiers at Azovstal, “40-50 people are in critical condition” and need urgent evacuation. “For food and water, I think, there are approximately five days left, for a week, maybe. Today we had lunch: we only have lunch, we have one meal a day. It was oatmeal, in my opinion, and a little carrots,” Kozatsky said.
Speaking about the ongoing assault on Azovstal, Dmitry Kozatsky noted that hostilities were already taking place on the territory of the plant. “All this is supported by the work of enemy heavy artillery, the work of tanks and aircraft. Our fighters repel all enemy attacks to the maximum,” the Azov fighter said.
The Azovstal metallurgical plant is the last stronghold of Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, after most of the city’s territory came under the control of the Russian military. The Azov fighters, employees of the territorial defense and border troops, are defending themselves at the plant.
Ukraine is seeking the evacuation of its troops from the plant, offering, in particular, to send them to a third country where they could remain until the end of the invasion. Turkey, in particular, made a proposal to ensure such an evacuation. Russia insists that the Ukrainian military surrender. Negotiations are now underway to evacuate the seriously wounded in exchange for Russian prisoners.