The meeting of the Azov wives with the Pope lasted only about five minutes, Italian media write.

“In an effort to save their husbands and all the people from Azovstal, wives are ready to go anywhere in the world, asking everyone for help. The whole world should shout about saving the fighters from Azovstal!” – said the leader of “Azov” Andrei Biletsky.

According to Corriere della Sera, at the end of the audience, the military wives gave the Pope two letters and several photographs. One of the letters is their authorship, and the second, signed by the head of the UOC-MP Onufry, contains a request to Russian President Vladimir Putin to release the Azov fighters.

“He (the Pope – ed.) told us that he knew about the situation, and that he would pray for them, and that he would do everything possible … He is our last hope … We ask the Pope and Onufry to become a third party in this war and help us to initiate the procedure for their (military – ed.) extraction,” the wives of the Azov people said after the audience.

They also expressed the hope that safe corridors would be created for the evacuation of the military to a third country, where the fighters would be able to lead a normal life.

The women added that they asked the pontiff to speak with Putin and also visit Ukraine.

Recall that earlier the commander of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Volyn, who defends Mariupol at Azovstal, called for help to implement the extraction procedure for the Ukrainian military.

As military expert Oleg Zhdanov explained, extraction is when, by agreement of the two opposing sides, that is, Ukraine and Russia, a third country takes military personnel and guarantees that they will not end up in the country from which they were taken until the end of the war. That is, the military will be on the territory of a third country and will not engage in armed struggle.

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