Russia rejects proposals to evacuate Azovstal, according to Ukrainian sources

Russia has rejected all proposals to evacuate Ukrainian soldiers and civilians who remain besieged in the port city of Mariupolsaid this Saturday an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

The adviser, Mijailo Podolyak, stated that at the request of the president several “world leaders” have addressed the Kremlin to request the creation of a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol, where fighting is still going on around the Azovstal steelworks.

“Unfortunately, there is no response from the Russian side,” Podolyak said in an interview with “Radio Free Europe” in which he surmised that Moscow is pursuing the “symbolic” goal of destroying the city, which is already mostly controlled by the Army. Russian, and those who defend it, in reference to the Azov Regiment.

“Every day there are attacks with heavy artillery and fighters to destroy Azovstal. The Russians know there are children inside, but they continue to bomb,” Podolyak denounced.

Five thousand combatants and about a thousand civilians are barricaded in the Azovstal metallurgical plant, according to Ukrainian sources, of whom some 500 are wounded without the possibility of receiving medical treatment.

The food and water reserves will come to an end in the coming days, according to sources from the far-right Azov Regiment, integrated into the Ukrainian Army.

Moscow has ruled out the possibility of launching an assault on the steel mill to avoid Russian casualties, opting instead to besiege the plant and prevent humanitarian access to the besieged.

This Thursday, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, stated at a press conference with the Ukrainian president in kyiv that the United Nations is doing “everything possible” to evacuate civilians from the plant.

Zelensky, for his part, assured that Ukraine is “open to holding immediate negotiations” to achieve a humanitarian corridor that allows those who remain in Azovstal to be saved.

Source: Elcomercio

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