Marine Commander From Azovstal Asks Erdogan To Evacuate Wounded And Civilians To Turkey

Major Serhii Volynskyi, commander of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), has called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to evacuate everyone who is at the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol to his territory.

Volynskyi made the corresponding statement on the Turkish TV channel Haberturk TV, reports Ukrainian Pravda.

The commander of the Marines said that about 600 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are located on the territory of Azovstal, who have wounds of varying degrees of complexity.

Besides, several hundred civilians of Mariupol are hiding in the basements of the plant. Volynskyi noted that the smallest of them is only 4 months old.

"Now I appeal to the Turkish people, to the respected Mr. President to apply the extraction procedure to us, to do everything in order to take the Mariupol garrison to the territory of Turkey, to practically take us from Azovstal with security guarantees from the Turkish side. We very much count on your help," Volynskyi said.

He added that the situation in the Azovstal blocked by the Russian military is extremely difficult, partly due to constant shelling and airstrikes by the invaders.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on Thursday, April 28, fighters of the Azov special purpose regiment defending Azovstal reported that as a result of airstrikes and subsequent shelling by the invaders, the hospital at Azovstal was partially destroyed.

Earlier, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova said that the field hospital of the Ukrainian military on the territory of Azovstal was on the verge of survival.

We also reported that the UN coordinator left for Zaporizhzhia to prepare for the evacuation of people from Azovstal. For the operation, guarantees are expected to comply with the silence regime from the Russian and Ukrainian military.