How help was delivered to Azovstal defenders became known

The interview was published by The WARZONE.

For a long time, the defenders of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol were under siege by Russian troops. They lacked ammunition, food and medical supplies, and the number of seriously wounded grew every day.

Under such conditions, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine prepared a plan to assist the defenders of Azovstal using helicopters, which American journalists assessed as daring and very risky.

The importance of the first flight was that many people looked at this operation as impossible, so we wanted to show other pilots and the military that it is possible, - a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with the call sign “Flint” told The WARZONE.

All participants in the operation were fully aware of its danger. In order to load more payload for Azovstal's defenders, the weapons were removed from the helicopters to reduce their weight.

Given the impossibility of a completely covert operation, a complex operation was carried out to mislead the enemy to mislead the enemy.

Realizing the significant risk of the operation, several pilots refused to participate in it. But the first pilot to agree had a personal reason.

The main reason why he agreed to do this was that his wife was a combat medic at Azovstal. She worked with seriously wounded fighters, and the task of the first flight was to evacuate the seriously wounded, as well as her from the territory of the plant, Flint said.

It was not easy to get to Azovstal . Flying fast and low over terrain with mountains and obstacles such as trees and telephone wires required great pilot skill. In addition, in some cases, flights were made at night using night vision devices, which required the pilots to have relevant experience in use.

The first arrival of helicopters surprised the defenders of Azovstal. They said that we do not know the place of your departure, but you flew to us from the sky. These are very special emotions when, upon returning, you give the wounded to the doctors and realize that you have done something completely impossible. You feel proud and happy for your people,” Flint recalls his emotional state after landing.

But subsequent flights became increasingly difficult as the Russians began to beef up their air defenses.

During the second flight, the helicopter was shot at, but it was able to reach the refueling point and land successfully, says Flint.

Trying to bypass the Russian air defense, the pilots changed routes, either flying over the ground or over water.

I know the situation when our helicopter flew between two Russian ships, and then turned right and moved over the sea to the territory of Ukraine, he recalled.

Books should be written about these operations and films should be made about the last place of defense of Mariupol. And I think that our children will tell this story,” Flint concluded.