The Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced that more than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers, including hundreds of wounded, are still inside the Azovstal factory in the southern city of Mariupol, which is under Russian control.
She told the "Agence France-Presse": "More than a thousand" Ukrainian soldiers are still inside the plant and "hundreds of them are injured. There are people suffering from severe injuries who require urgent evacuation. The situation is deteriorating daily."
The Azovstal factory is the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the devastated city and has gained significant symbolic importance in the broader conflict in Ukraine.
Vereshchuk announced on Saturday that all women, children, and elderly civilians who were hiding with the fighters have been evacuated from the vast industrial site's shelters.
She denied statements made today by two local officials that around a hundred civilians are still in the Soviet-era tunnels beneath the factory.
She stated that Ukraine "calls on all international organizations to pressure Russia to allow the evacuation of seriously wounded individuals from Azovstal, as well as the military medical personnel and others 'who are not combatants,' according to the Geneva Agreement."
She noted that she received guarantees that "Turkey is ready" to help facilitate evacuation operations by sea from Azovstal, which may take about a week, given the number of people still in the factory.
She added: "There must be agreements and guarantees that Russia will not begin firing," emphasizing, "We need written guarantees. That is what we are working to achieve now."
