Defenders of Mariupol are ready to evacuate from the city with the support of a third party.
This was announced by Deputy Commander of the Azov Regiment Sviatoslav Palamar.
According to him, Mariupol defenders talked today with the adviser to the head of the Presidentʼs Office Mykhailo Podoliak, and the leader of the Servant of the People faction David Arakhamiya, who said they were ready to come to Mariupol for talks with Russian presidential advisor Vladimir Medinsky and international affairs committee chairman Slutsk on the evacuation of the military garrison.
"We are ready to evacuate with the support of a third party from the city of Mariupol with their small arms in order to save personnel, evacuate the wounded and take the bodies of the dead and bury them with honors in the territory not controlled by Russia," said Palamar.
Earlier, the commander of the 36th Marine Brigade, Serhiy Volyna, who is in Mariupol, also appealed to world leaders to bring civilians, wounded, and defenders of the city to the territory of a third state.
Palamar separately stated the need to evacuate civilians who are at the Azovstal plant together with the military. People are not able to leave the basements due to constant shelling. In addition, the Russians are dropping heavy bombs on the plant, which have already buried many people under the rubble.
Palamar also said that military equipment with V marks had appeared in the city, which probably took part in the battles near Kyiv earlier. "This indicates that they sent fresh forces here — apparently, this is the same bastard who was near Kyiv (in Bucha, etc.), because their equipment had identification letters V," he said.
Presidentʼs reaction
President Vladimir Zelensky said today that Ukraine is ready to exchange captured Russian servicemen for people from Mariupol. In general, Ukraine is ready for exchange in any format.
- A humanitarian corridor from Mariupol was being prepared for today, but it did not work. Due to the lack of control over their own military on the ground, the Russians were unable to ensure a proper ceasefire. On the morning of April 21, the Ukrainian side will try to organize the evacuation of people again.