Kiev offered to exchange wounded soldiers from Azovstal for captured Russians Russia

and Ukraine reported last week that all civilians had been evacuated from the plant. According to Kyiv, more than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers remain at Azovstal,

Kyiv offers Moscow to exchange seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers who remain on the territory of the blocked Azovstal plant in Mariupol for Russian prisoners, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk wrote on her Telegram channel.

This is one of the options for the release of people from the plant, she explained. “At the moment, it is impossible to release Azovstal by military means. The defenders of Azovstal do not want to surrender,” Vereshchuk said.

The Deputy Prime Minister clarified that there are no agreements with Moscow yet, negotiations are ongoing.

Kyiv announced the evacuation of all children and women from Azovstal Politics

The day before, in an interview with AFP, Vereshchuk said that more than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers remained on the territory of Azovstal, hundreds of them were injured. “There are those who have received serious injuries and need urgent evacuation,” she said.

In mid-April, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Russian military and the forces of the Donetsk People's Republic had taken control of Mariupol, but Ukrainian troops remained at Azovstal. President Vladimir Putin , in response, ordered to cancel the assault on the plant, but instructed to block the territory of the industrial zone so "so that the fly does not fly." The Ukrainian side pointed out that civilians remained there as well. At the end of the month, UN Secretary General António Guterres visited Moscow and Kyiv to discuss the evacuation of people from Mariupol, including from the plant.

What is Azovstal. Photo gallery about the symbol of the battles for Mariupol 

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On May 7, the Russian and Ukrainian sides announced the completion of the evacuation of all civilians from the territory of the Azovstal plant. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that the operation was carried out with the participation of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

On May 11, the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, said that civilians were no longer sheltering at the plant and that the republic’s formations “have their hands free” to continue strikes on the territory of the plant. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier warned that in the event of the death of the Ukrainian military at Azovstal, Kyiv would stop negotiations with Moscow to resolve the conflict. In April, he said that Ukraine offered Russia several options for the evacuation of civilians and soldiers from the blockaded territory, including the exchange of the wounded and the participation of intermediaries, but Moscow refused.