Commenting on the situation at Azovstal in her Telegram channel, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said:

As of now, it is impossible to unblock Azovstal by military means. Azovstal defenders do not want to surrender. This is worthy of respect. The Russians do not agree for "extraction". This is a reality, but it is not surprising.

Iryna Vereshchuk

According to the official, the Government is currently working on various options.

We are not looking for an ideal option, but a working one. As a first step, the Russians were offered such an exchange: We are taking our seriously injured guys out of Azovstal along the humanitarian corridor. Instead, we hand over Russian prisoners of war according to the standard rules of prisoner exchange.

Iryna Vereshchuk

Iryna Vereshchuk concluded that there is no agreement yet. But negotiations are underway.