Pope Francis on Wednesday met with the wives of two Ukrainian officers of the Azov regiment, who are in Mariupol, Ekaterina Prokopenko and Yulia Fedosyuk. Earlier, Ukrainian women wrote a letter to Pope Francis and received an invitation to come to the Vatican.
The meeting of the wives of Denis Prokopenko and Arseniy Fedosyuk took place after a general audience. According to Credo, the pontiff, who uses a wheelchair due to knee problems, stood up to greet the wives of the defenders of Mariupol.
“We hope that this will help save our husbands, the military, who are at Azovstal in Mariupol. We hope this meeting will give us a chance to save their lives,” say the wives of the fighters.
Pope Francis said he would "
“We asked him to come to Ukraine and also to talk to Putin,” they added, but noted that the pope did not respond to this request..
“We asked the Pope to help us, to organize humanitarian corridors so that people could get out of Azovstal,” said Yulia Fedosyuk and added that many people died at Azovstal, who could not be buried in a Christian way.
The wives of the Ukrainian military gave the Pope two letters and several photographs.
“My husband wrote to me yesterday that even technical water is running out and asked me to look for an article on how to survive without water for as long as possible.. I'm afraid of losing him, but I'm also angry that I can't help it.. It's horrible! What is happening at Azovstal looks like a reality show, and no one is helping us, so we rely on the Pope. He is our last hope,” added Yulia Fedosyuk..
According to the women, there are now about 600-700 wounded at Azovstal who need to be evacuated urgently..
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Recall, according to official data, there are about a thousand Ukrainian military personnel in the underground storage facilities of the Azovstal plant.. military from the Azov battalion, 12th brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, 36th separate marine brigade, border guards, policemen, volunteers, Teroborona of Mariupol. Most of them are injured. The situation is critical.
On the eve of the Ukrainian military in Mariupol confirmed that they are ready to appear to a third party and remain in this country until the end of the war. At the same time, they also ask to evacuate with them the bodies of their dead brothers..
On Tuesday, May 10, the National Guard of Ukraine announced that President Volodymyr Zelensky and the entire leadership of the state are working on the application of the extraction procedure - the removal of our defenders to a third safe country - in order to release wounded soldiers, doctors and military from the Azovstal plant blocked by the occupiers in.