Defenders said Ukraine’s air force had tried to fly in medical supplies and food on many occasions. But they had been beaten back and took losses.
‘A very large number of our pilots died, sadly,’ Zelensky told Ukrainian television.
‘They were absolutely heroic people who knew it was hard, that to fly in there was almost impossible, to fly to Azovstal with medicine, food, water, and to bring back bodies and the wounded.’
Anton Gerashchenko of Ukraine’s interior ministry said the defense of the plant would be taught in military schools for years to come.
‘Do you understand what it is to amputate a limb without anesthetic? What you see in Hollywood horror movies is nothing compared to what the defenders of Azovstal saw and endured,’ Gerashenko told Ukrainian television before the Russian announcement.
