Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is returning home from Türkiye together with the defenders of Azovstal steelworks, who had been staying in Türkiye since September 2022.
On behalf of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk met in Turkey with the defenders of Azovstal steel works.
A total of 215 defenders of Mariupol, who had been holding their defenses at the Azovstal steelworks, Ukraine’s last stronghold in the area, were released from Russian captivity as a result of a massive swap effort.
The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, within the framework of the interstate case "Ukraine v. Russia (X)," submitted a number of new urgent claims to the European Court of Human Rights regarding the Azovstal defenders.
The Ukrainian defender at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, captured by Russian troops, had no weapons to fight back and could die without a fight, so they made a risky compromise.
Film “Mariupol Fortress. Last Day at Azovstal” by Dmytro Kozatsky, an Azov Regiment fighter, the regiment's press secretary who spent 84 days at the steelworks next to his comrades, has been released.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he believes that the evacuation of Ukrainian defenders from the Azovstal steel plant will be completed in the near future.
Deputy Commander of the Azov Regiment, Captain Sviatoslav Palamar (call sign Kalyna) recorded a video in which he denies the information that he left the territory of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol and surrendered to Russian invaders.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) started to register Ukrainian service members, including the wounded, who are being evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
Mykhailo Podolyak, Adviser to the Head of the President's Office, says that the process of evacuation of the Ukrainian defenders from Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol is ongoing and difficult and urges to refrain from commenting on the situation.