By Alex Nwahiri
The Ukrainian forces holed up inside the Azovstal steelworks, today surrendered to the Russian authorities to allow the wounded soldiers and civilians, receive urgent medical attention.
A statement from the garrison commander of the troops in the Azovstal steelworks explained, that the garrison was obeying orders to save the lives of troops and get the wounded to the hospital.
Journalists who covered the evacuation, reported seeing dozens of buses carrying both the fighters and the wounded, to a medical facility in the Russian controlled town of Novoazovsk under Russian escort.
It was not possible to determine how many people were on board but it’s estimated that about 1000 fighters including the wounded soldiers may have been involved.
The garrison commander praised his men for their gallantry, pointing out that the defenders of Mariupol held out for 82 days buying time for the rest of Ukraine to battle Russian forces and secure western arms needed to withstand the Russian assault..
The steelworks was the last Ukrainian bastion in the once prosperous Port City of Mariupol, now in ruins after three months of Russian seige and bombardment, killing tens of thousands of Ukranians.
Since February, Mariupol devastation has become a symbol of Ukranian ability to withstand the Russian invasion and Russian willingness to destroy cities that it cannot capture.
Today’s evacuation was facilitated by the United Nations, and the Red Cross, following the evacuation of the last batch of civilians, in order to allow many wounded Ukrainian soldiers to receive urgent medical attention.
Both the United Nations and the Red Cross who brokered the deal expressed shock and sorrow at the number of civilian causalities in Mariupol running into tens of thousands.
