During such missions, our side suffered casualties. The occupiers also shot down several helicopters.
The head of the GUR MO Kirill Budanov said that the crews Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopters broke through Russian air defenses and enemy aircraft 16 times to deliver our much-needed supplies and fresh forces to our defenders, who were stationed at Azovstal in blockaded Mariupol. He told reporters The War Zone.
“The special operation was planned and conducted by the military intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine,” Budanov told the details of these missions for the first time.
He noted that Azovstal our heroic defenders dug in for three months, as the steel plant is large. However, as they ran out of food, ammunition and medicine, and the number of seriously injured increased, so did their requests for help.
The intelligence chief said that all deliveries were successful. However, two of our helicopters were shot down during the 5th and 7th flights. The occupiers also destroyed the third helicopter that came to the rescue.
The intelligence chief did not specify the information about the victims. He only noted that although the last plane was able to deliver everything it needed, this was not enough to prevent Russia from seizing the plant.
Oleksiy Gromov, Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Department of the General Staff, also stated that the Armed Forces had repeatedly delivered aid to Mariupol. He added that these deliveries were “possible before the information about the aid was disseminated. As a result, the enemy took steps to strengthen the air defense system, which made it difficult for us to carry out such actions and resulted in the loss of personnel and helicopters evacuating the wounded.”
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We will remind, today all defenders who after receiving the order to save the life left the territory of Azovstal plant, are in the territory of Donbass controlled by Russia. There, like the severely wounded, they are awaiting exchange.
However, on May 25, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said Moscow would discuss exchanging prisoners “only after trial” over Ukrainian defenders. . Prior to that, “all talks are premature,” he added.
See special topic: Russia is using fictional narratives to pit Africa, the Middle East, and Asia against Ukraine. In Mariupol, the occupiers decided to extend the school year for children until September 1 This means that students will not have a vacation. Ukrainian iron ore shipment launched from Polish ports Solutions for grain shipment will be ready soon. Danilov assured that no violence is being used against Ukrainian Azovstal fighters Ukraine is monitoring the conditions in which our defenders are being held. Labor relations in martial law: the Ministry of Regional Development considers inadmissible interference of local self-government in internal affairs The Ministry of Regional Development and the Association of Ukrainian Cities do not support the ideas of the bill 247247 .
