Vereshchuk on the evacuation from Azovstal: Russia has opened a corridor only for captive surrender

As of Friday, April 22, there are about 1,000 civilians at the Azovstal metallurgical combine in Mariupol, Donetsk region. However, country-aggressor Russia opened a corridor only for the captive surrender of Ukrainian troops.

The Deputy Prime Minister – Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, Iryna Vereshchuk, informed about it in an explanation to international journalists.

She clarified that the Ukrainian side insists on opening a humanitarian corridor to evacuate women, children, and the elderly from Azovstal.

– Our servicemen and about 1,000 of our civilians are in Azovstal. There are corridors for captive surrender. Russians have opened one, but we don’t need it. Because our soldiers does not want to surrender to them to be captive. There are humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from the combat zone. We need such a corridor from Azovstal, – Vereshchuk emphasized.

She noted that the Russian side refuses to open a humanitarian corridor from Azovstal for civilians. The invaders cynically pretend that they do not seem to understand the difference between the corridor for the captive surrender of soldiers and the corridor for the evacuation of civilians.

– They understand everything. It’s just that in this way they are trying to put additional pressure on our servicemen, – added Vereshchuk.

The minister drew the attention of international journalists to the fact that some so-called official Russian speakers were openly lying, claiming that the humanitarian corridor seemed to be open and that civilians in Mariupol did not want to use it.

Regarding this, Vereshchuk emphasized that the international media must understand the truth: Russian invaders are afraid to storm the Azovstal plant and, at the same time, cynically do not release civilians from there, trying to press on the Ukrainian soldiers.

In addition, Vereshchuk once again called on world leaders and the international communities to make all efforts to open a humanitarian corridor from Azovstal.

As it is known, in recent days, Russian troops have struck heavy bombs at the Azovstal plant, where hundreds of civilians are hiding.

Ukraine’s security service has intercepted talks of Russian invaders, which shows that Russia has decided to destroy the plant (“level everything to the ground”).

The day before, Kremlin’s press service published a conversation between Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. During this meeting, the Kremlin host allegedly ordered to cancel the assault on the Azovstal plant and lay siege on the Mariupol industrial zone. Despite this, Russian troops did not stop the brutal shelling of Azovstal.

Oleksii Arestovych, an Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, explained that Russian invaders understood that they would not be able to capture Azovstal. Because of this, the Kremlin announced an alleged “refusal” to storm the plant.

Source: Iryna Vereshchuk

Photo: Iryna Vereshchuk