On May 20, in a traditional daily address to the Ukrainian people, the president of Ukraine spoke about the heroic actions of the pilots. Zelenskyy said that many pilots died performing a rescue operation over the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. At the same time, he emphasized that the occupiers never permitted a green corridor in the airspace of Mariupol. Even though people are badly wounded, children are blocked and there is no food or water.
At the same time, it should be noted that the country has only 168 combat aircraft. The strength of the Ukrainian armed forces did not exceed 45.000 soldiers. But despite such a small number of air defenses, an operation to aid Mariupol was carried out.
"A lot of people died — our pilots. Unfortunately, they died. Also, heroic people knew it was difficult. We knew that it was almost impossible to fly. Fly to Azovstal and bring them drugs, food, water, pick up corpses, and wounded. All this happened. Many things happened that no one could officially comment on. Why? Because of the no air corridors to the Azovstal. They have powerful air defense," said the head of the Ukrainian state.
The heroic actions of the Ukrainian air force helped the defenders of the last unoccupied place in Mariupol to defend and protect the civilian population for more than two months.
