Ukrainian Commander Requests Evacuation for Mariupol
Ukrainian commander requests evacuation of Mariupol for troops and civilians as the situation becomes “critical”. Maj. Serhii Volyna, commander of Ukraine’s 36th Separate Marine Brigade made the request to evacuate the Azovstal steel plant.
“I have a statement to the world,” Volyna said. “It may be my last statement because we have only a few days or even hours, left. We appeal to world leaders to apply the extraction procedure to the military of the Mariupol garrison, to the civilians who are with us here at the plant. We ask you to take us to the territory of a third country and provide us with security.”
Both civilians and troops took shelter at the Azovstal steel plant and are now trapped by heavy Russian bombardment.
“This should be at the level of agreements. If we talk about practical application, it could be a ship with helicopters, for example, that could pick us up. Or an international humanitarian mission that can come to us and guarantee our security and accompany us on the way to the state that will make such commitments.”
“We are completely surrounded,” he said. “There are about 500 wounded military, it is very difficult to provide them with medical care. They literally rot. There are civilians on the territory. They are also suffering from explosions, blasts on them, next to them. They [the Russians] use heavy aircraft bombs against us and strike with artillery.”
“This happens all the time. The city is destroyed. Enemy groups outnumber us dozens of times, they have a complete advantage in air, artillery, equipment, manpower. We fight to the last, but we have very little time left,” he continued.
A message to the world
“We appeal to absolutely all world leaders: Whoever will be able to make such commitments, whoever will be able to succeed in the short term in agreeing on such a procedure,” he said. “We know that there are some developments and talks with the Turkish side that it is acting as a guarantor. Probably the United States, because we believe that this is a very powerful state with a strong leader, Biden, and that he can personally resolve this issue in the shortest possible time. Or this issue can be resolved with his help in a short time.”
“If the world hears us, if the world leaders hear us, we very much hope so, and the extraction procedure will be carried out, then everyone will understand the quantitative composition of the people who were in captivity,” he said.