Kyiv (dpa-AFX) – The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has declared his willingness to immediately negotiate the evacuation of the people trapped in the Mariupol steelworks and to implement the results of the negotiations just as quickly. “We expect a humane attitude towards these people from the Russian Federation,” he said after speaking with UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres on Thursday. According to Ukrainian sources, up to 1,000 civilians are being held in the Azovstal steelworks, along with soldiers and fighters from the nationalist Azov regiment.
On his mediation mission, first in Moscow and then in Kyiv, Guterres had proposed the establishment of refugee corridors under the supervision of the United Nations and the Red Cross. “We expect that this part of the Secretary General’s mission will be successful and we will support him in every way,” stressed Zelenskyy.
Mariupol has been heavily fought over for weeks. Zelenskyj contradicted Russian statements on Thursday, according to which the city in the south-east of Ukraine is now firmly in Russian hands and the fighting has ended. The Azovstal plant is still being bombed, he said./bal/DP/he