Sunday 29 May 2022 10:10 PM Injured spy chief tells of his death-defying chopper flight to safety from ... trends now
An Azov hero has told of his Mission Impossible-style helicopter escape from the Mariupol steelworks under a hail of gunfire.
Details of the rescue mission were revealed yesterday by Ukraine’s military spy chief, who described how old Soviet helicopters flew in lines of twos and fours through Russia’s air defences to drop off aid and pick up the wounded from the besieged city.
Not all the pilots made it home, with at least two helicopters known to have been shot down.
But Colonel Giorgi Kuparashvili, co-founder of the Azov battalion which held out for nearly three months in the face of the Russian onslaught, was among those who escaped.
Azov commander Colonel Giorgi Kuparashvili, who was one of the injured soldiers evacuated in a daring helicopter rescue from the Mariupol steelworks shortly before the rest surrendered
The 44-year-old was evacuated – naked – immediately after doctors performed risky surgery inside the Azovstal plant after he was shot twice in the stomach, severing his sciatic nerve and leaving him unable to walk.
‘I was brought wounded into the basement several floors underground,’ Colonel Kuparashvili told the Daily Mail from his hotel in Kyiv, where he is recovering.
‘All the hospitals in Mariupol had been bombed, but we still had a small number of doctors in the steelworks.
‘The guys performed the operation perfectly. It was really incredible. In this so-called bunker underground they still had proper equipment at that point.
‘They took out the two bullets from my stomach while bombs were raining down on us.
‘Next to me was a comrade who had his arm completely cut off – and he was already helping another wounded soldier even though he could barely walk himself. They are all such inspiring men. They couldn’t even put clothes on me
