PTurkish Presidential envoy Kalyn said that the Turkish ship is ready to deliver wounded Ukrainian soldiers and other civilians to Istanbul through the port of Berdyansk on the Black Sea
The Azovstal plant in Mariupol
Turkey has offered to evacuate wounded Ukrainian soldiers who are at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, across the Black Sea to Istanbul. This was announced by the press secretary of the Turkish President Ibrahim Kalyn in an interview with Reuters.
He said that he personally discussed this proposal with the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev two weeks ago and that it remains relevant, despite the fact that Moscow did not agree to it.
According to the plan, the wounded soldiers evacuated from Azovstal will be transported by land to the port of Berdyansk, after which a Turkish ship will take them to Istanbul.
“If it can be implemented this way, we will be happy to do it. We are ready. Our ship is ready to go and deliver wounded soldiers and other civilians to Turkey,” Kalyn stressed.
The day before, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk said that Turkey had agreed to mediate in negotiations on the evacuation of Kiev-controlled forces from “Azovstal”.
According to her, a meeting with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is to be held in Russia to coordinate the first stage of the evacuation of the Ukrainian military from the plant, including the withdrawal of the seriously wounded from Azovstal.
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In early May, a UN and Red Cross operation to evacuate civilians began in Azovstal. This became possible after talks between UN Chief Antonio Guterres and the Presidents of Russia and Ukraine Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky.
The DPR reported that 150 civilians were removed from the plant during the first day. Kiev reported on May 7 that all women, children and elderly people had left the company. The Defense Ministry told about the rescue of 51 people, including 11 children, and stressed that the operation to evacuate civilians has ended.
On May 10, Vereshchuk informed AFP that about a thousand Ukrainian soldiers remain in “Azovstal”, including “hundreds” of wounded. According to her, Kiev offered Moscow to exchange them for Russian prisoners, but so far there are no agreements.
On April 21, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin about the capture of Mariupol during a military operation in Ukraine, adding that the remnants of nationalists had taken refuge on the territory of the local enterprise “Azovstal”. Putin considered the storming of the plant impractical, advocating the “preservation of the life and health of our soldiers and officers”, but instructed to block the territory of the industrial zone so that the fly would not fly”.
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