Marine commander at Azovstal appeals to Erdoğan
ALONA MAZURENKO - FRIDAY, 29 APRIL 2022, 20:27
The commander of the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade, Serhii Volynskyi (known as Volyna), has appealed to the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to initiate an "extraction" procedure and take them to Turkey.
Source: Volynskyi on Habertürk TV
Direct quote: "Dear Mr President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Marine Major Serhii Volynskyi is appealing to you. I am currently serving in the 36th Marine Brigade stationed at the Mariupol garrison, which has been fighting for 65 days in a row.
We have 600 servicemen with injuries of various degrees of severity who are in dire need of help. We have civilians with us who have been injured and who also need your help. Hundreds of civilians and dozens of children have also sought safety with us at the Azovstal steel plant. The youngest is four months old.
#ÖzelHaber - Ukraynalı asker Habertürk TV'de @afsinyurdakul'a konuştu. Mariupol'deki çelik fabrikasında hayatta kalmaya çalışan Serhiy Volina, Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan'a seslenerek yardım istedi. pic.twitter.com/GaZXCYgFKO
— Habertürk TV (@HaberturkTV) April 29, 2022
I am now appealing to the Turkish people and to the President to initiate an extraction procedure and to do everything possible to take the Mariupol garrison to Turkey, to actually get us away from Azovstal with security guarantees from Turkey. We are greatly counting on your help."
Details: Volynskyi added that the current situation at Azovstal is extremely difficult: the fighting has not stopped.
The occupiers daily carry out airstrikes, fire from various land- and sea-based artillery systems, and carry out assault operations using tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and large contingents of troops.
A few days ago, the Russian occupiers destroyed a field hospital and an operating theatre. Now doctors can no longer provide medical care to servicemen and civilians.
According to Volynskyi, hundreds of civilians, including 60 children, are hiding in Azovstal’s bunkers.
Background:
- On the night of 28 April, the Russian occupiers dropped powerful bombs on the Azovstal hospital, where seriously wounded civilians and military personnel were being treated. A number of seriously wounded military personnel were covered by rubble.
- After talks with Zelenskyy on 28 April, UN Secretary-General Guterres said in Kyiv that international organisations led by the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross were ready to conduct a rescue operation to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal steel plant.
- The Azov Regiment has estimated that it has killed more than 1,150 Russian soldiers in the 65 days of the battle for Mariupol.
- On the morning of 29 April, the Office of the President of Ukraine announced that the authorities were preparing for a 24-hour rescue operation to evacuate civilians and military personnel from Azovstal. Before this, however, adviser to the head of the President’s Office Mykhailo Podoliak said that Russia was ignoring special negotiations on evacuating Ukrainians from Mariupol and refusing to exchange the people trapped there for Viktor Medvedchuk, whose daughter is Putin’s godchild.
