Today, it is impossible to unblock Azovstal by military means.

This was stated by Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk on May 11.

“Defenders of Azovstal do not want to surrender. This is worthy of respect. The Russians do not agree to “extraction”. This is a reality, but this is not surprising from the Russians. What to do? The government is working on various options. None of them is ideal. But we are not looking for an ideal option, but a working one,” Vereshchuk said.

According to her, as a first step, the Russians were offered the following exchange: “We are taking our seriously wounded guys out of Azovstal along the humanitarian corridor. Instead, we are handing over the captured Russians according to the standard rules for exchanging prisoners of war.”

Vereshchuk added that there was no agreement yet. Negotiations are ongoing.

Let us recall that earlier Vereshchuk called on the world community to join the process of evacuating the seriously wounded from Azovstal, surrounded by Russian invaders, in Mariupol.

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