A bus with civilians leaves the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant. Archival photoMOSCOW, May 7. Thanks to the unprecedented measures of Russia and with the participation of the UN and the ICRC, a humanitarian operation to evacuate civilians from Azovstal was completed, 51 people were saved, said the head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, General — Colonel Mikhail Mizintsev. «During the period of the operation (from May 5, 2022), 18 men, 22 women and 11 children were saved, including one person on May 7, 2022,» he said. Mizintsev stressed that each rescued civilians were provided with security, qualified medical and psychological assistance. Accompanied by representatives of international organizations, the evacuees left for selected places of temporary accommodation. The official representative of the Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, said on April 16 that the Russian military had liberated the entire territory of Mariupol from the Ukrainian army, foreign mercenaries and neo-Nazis from the Azov regiment (against whose fighters criminal cases were initiated in Russia ), their remains are blocked at the Azovstal metallurgical plant. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the assault on the plant inappropriate and ordered to block the exits from the enterprise. Russia launched a special operation in Ukraine on February 24. Russian President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» According to the Ministry of Defense, as of March 25, the Russian Armed Forces completed the main tasks of the first stage of the special operation — they significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. evacuated 50 people
