Kiev is conducting "
difficult talks
" with Russia on the evacuation of 38 seriously injured Ukrainian soldiers, who are in the basements of the Azovstal steelworks, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol, besieged by Russian forces.
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“
Today the talks are only about 38 seriously injured soldiers.
We are working step by step
,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram, refuting the figure of 500 to 600 people put forward by some media.
“Hundreds of wounded” still present
“
We are conducting very difficult negotiations on the evacuation of seriously wounded fighters from Azovstal in exchange for captured Russians
,” she added.
Iryna Vereshchuk told AFP on Tuesday that "
more than a thousand
" Ukrainian soldiers, including "
hundreds of wounded
" were still in the huge Azovstal complex.
The city was still besieged by Russian troops in Mariupol after all civilians were evacuated last week with UN assistance.
"
There are serious injuries who require urgent evacuation
," she said, adding that "
the situation was deteriorating every day
" in this factory in Mariupol, a large port in south-eastern Ukraine, devastated by the fighting and almost completely under Russian control.
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With the departure of civilians from Azovstal, the Ukrainian authorities are now working to evacuate injured soldiers, medical personnel and military chaplains from the steelworks, while hoping for help from international organizations and Turkey.
