A news conference given by injured soldiers of the Azov Regiment who were evacuated from Mariupol was held in Vinnytsya on May 10. It was dedicated to the dire situation at the Azovstal steel plant, where hundreds of injured soldiers are slowly dying from the lack of water, food, and medicines.
The soldiers said the main hope now rests on the international community, UN, and Red Cross Society, which need to exert influence on this situation and to help evacuate injured servicemen from the territory of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works to a mediating country.
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One of the servicemen at the news conference, who goes under the call sign “Sontse” (Sun), said that one suggested option was to leave by sea to Turkey.
Everyone can help save the injured in Mariupol by signing the Save Mariupol petition to the United Nations using the QR code on the poster or via the link.
The administrative officer of Azov, who goes by the call sign “Molfar” is originally from Ivano-Frankivsk Region, having joined as a volunteer in 2014. Although he was not present at the news conference in Vinnytsya, he told the Kyiv Post how he had been injured and evacuated from Mariupol.
“Molfar” was injured on March 14 when a Russian airstrike hit his car. Shrapnel caused severe injuries, including a broken pelvis and damaged internal organs. However, he was successfully evacuated from Mariupol at the end of March.
He was evacuated to the 555th military hospital in Mariupol and operated on successfully. Two days after “Molfar” got to the hospital, in which there were many civilian patients too, it was destroyed by a Russian airstrike.
“The evacuation went ahead in absolute secrecy. It was unknown whether the helicopter would fly to us because we were surrounded at that moment. The enemy had powerful air defense. However, at their own risk, they decided to help us. They brought us equipment and took our injured fighters. It was unclear whether they would fly to us or not, whether we would come back or not. But the skills of our pilots helped us,” “Molfar” told the Kyiv Post. He underlined how serious the situation is at Azovstal, where injured soldiers, some critically, are trapped
“I’m confident that Ukraine is doing everything possible, but more depends on the world because only the world community can impact Putin and the Russian Army to create the humanitarian corridor to evacuate injured soldiers,” “Molfar” added.
The administrative officer told the Kyiv Post why this appeal to the UN is so important. “I will say this, with the words of my friend ‘Hryan’ who was murdered several days ago in Mariupol. He was defending Kyiv from the first days of the war and flew by helicopter to Mariupol as a volunteer to protect our homeland. In one post on Instagram he stated:
”’The main thing is hope. And this post with gathering signatures gives hope that the extraction procedure will take place and they will be able to survive after exhausting battles”.
The petition to the UN has so far collected over 1.37 million signatures.
Here is the link to the petition for signing in English.
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