The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Ministry, Kirill Budanov, said that the crews of Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopters broke through Russian air defense and enemy aircraft 16 times in order to deliver supplies and fresh forces to our defenders, who were at Azovstal in the blocked Mariupol. He told the journalists of The War Zone about this..

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He noted that our heroic defenders dug in at Azovstal for three months, since the steel plant is large. However, as they ran out of food, ammunition and medical supplies, and instead the number of seriously wounded grew, their pleas for help also grew in desperation..

The head of intelligence said that all deliveries were successful. However, during the 5th and 7th sorties, two of our helicopters were shot down. The invaders also destroyed the third helicopter that arrived to help.

The head of intelligence did not specify information about the victims.. He only noted that although the last plane was able to deliver everything necessary, this was not enough to prevent the Russian seizure of the plant..

The fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine repeatedly delivered aid to Mariupol was also stated by the Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff Alexei Gromov.

But he added that these deliveries " As a result, the enemy took measures to strengthen the air defense system, which made it difficult for us to carry out such actions and led to the loss of personnel and helicopters that evacuated the wounded."

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Recall that today all the defenders who, after receiving an order to save their lives, left the territory of the Azovstal plant are in the Russian-controlled territory of Donbass. There they, like seriously wounded fighters, are waiting for an exchange..

However, on May 25, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said that Moscow would discuss the exchange of prisoners " Until then, "