Kyiv offers to exchange severely wounded servicemen from Azovstal for captured Russians
KATERYNA TНSHCHENKO - WEDNESDAY, 11 MAY 2022, 21:11
The Ukrainian side offers the Russians to exchange the severely wounded Ukrainian servicemen who remain at Azovstal for the captured servicemen of the Russian Federation.
Source: Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk in Telegram
Quote: "As the first step, the Russians were offered the following exchange:
We are taking out our seriously injured guys from Azovstal via humanitarian corridor. Instead, we hand over captured Russians according to the standard rules of capture exchange.
There is no agreement yet. Negotiations are ongoing."
Details: Vereshchuk explained that, currently, it is impossible to unblock Azovstal by military means.
"Azovstal defenders do not want to surrender." This is worthy of respect. The Russians do not agree to the "extraction". This is a reality, but it is not surprising from the Russians", she said.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the government is working on various options for rescuing the Ukrainian military.
"None of the options is perfect. Although, we are not looking for an ideal option, but a working one", Vereshchuk added.
Background:
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyi stated that Russia does not agree to any of the options offered by Ukraine to save the Ukrainian military in Mariupol.
- He warned that the Russian destruction of Ukrainian military and civilians at Azovstal in Mariupol would make further negotiation with Russia impossible.
- Women, children and the elderly from Azovstal were evacuated in several stages until May 7 inclusive. As the authorities thought, the medics and the wounded could not be evacuated. Russian troops continue to storm and fire at the Azovstal plant.
- On May 11, IIia Samoilenko, an intelligence officer from the Azov Regiment, said that his unit could not surrender to the Russians because it had an order to hold the line of Azovstal in Mariupol and could not violate it.
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