After the bombing of the besieged Mariupol plant "Azovstal”, the number of wounded there increased to 600 or more people.
The mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boychenko declared it at a briefing.
"They dropped an air bomb on a military hospital, which shows signs of a war crime. The number of wounded before that was 170, and now it is over 600. And this, unfortunately, is what we have for more than 60 days — the city is being destroyed, despite the civilian population", he said.
Separately, Boychenko added that the defenders of the city still continue to counterattack the Russians, causing them losses in manpower and equipment.
Earlier, the commander of the 36th Marine Brigade, Serhiy Volyna, told CNN that the situation at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol "goes beyond a humanitarian catastrophe". Defenders lost vital medical equipment as a result of missile and air strikes, which remained under the rubble of the field hospital.
"They hit the operating room. And all the surgical equipment, everything necessary for the operation, was destroyed, so now we can not treat our wounded, especially with shrapnel and bullet wounds. And now we do not have any surgical instruments. We are also in dire need of medication", he said.
Hundreds of wounded, including children, are currently in the basement of the plant. There is very little water and food.
- Currently, Ukrainian Marines, Azov Regiment fighters, and about a thousand civilians remain blocked at Azovstal. On April 20, defenders of Mariupol said they were ready to evacuate the city with the support of a third party. On the same day, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine was ready to exchange captured Russian servicemen for people from Mariupol.
- On April 21, Putin ordered Russian troops not to storm the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, but troops continued to attack. There are still no agreements on evacuation and humanitarian corridors.
- On the night of April 28, Russian troops struck almost 50 airstrikes on Mariupol and Azovstal. They dropped a lot of phosphorus bombs. In addition, the enemyʼs artillery was constantly working. As a result, a hospital collapsed in the basement of the plant.