Officials in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol said hundreds of people are still trapped at a steel mill.
For weeks, the Azovstal complex, which has been the city’s final bulwark of Ukrainian resistance, has been under Russian attack.
Denys Shlega, the plant’s commander, said that while some civilians were evacuated on Sunday, hundreds remained.
“As soon as the last civilian left… shelling from all kinds of weapons began,” he said.
Later on Monday, the first wave of refugees from the steelworks is expected to arrive in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia.
They were evacuated with the help of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which organized a convoy.
Some evacuees were transferred to a village controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, according to Russia. They would, however, be able to travel to Ukrainian-controlled territory if they so desired, according to official media.
President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the news that around 100 people were heading to Zaporizhzhia, which is around 140 miles (230 kilometers) north-west of Mariupol.
“Grateful to our team! Now they, together with UN, are working on the evacuation of other civilians from the plant,” he posted on Twitter.
Some people have been sheltering in the Azovstal steelworks for several weeks, according to reports, and food, water, and medicine supplies are all running low.
“The situation has become a sign of a real humanitarian catastrophe,” said the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
According to one Russian news report, there are more than 500 civilians remaining inside the plant.
A few Mariupol evacuees who were not staying at the steelworks arrived in Zaporizhzhia earlier on Monday after traveling on their own.
“We lived in [our] basement starting from 27 February,” Natalya Tsyntomirska told Reuters news agency. “The whole time, we were shelled with mines, and then air strikes started. Our house is completely destroyed.”
Another evacuee, who did not want to be identified, said she was unable to reach the evacuation buses due to a roadblock.
“Our city is divided between the left bank and right bank. The left bank was under a total blockade. We couldn’t reach these buses,” she said.
Despite the fact that Mariupol is nearly entirely under Russian control, Ukrainian soldiers have defended the steelworks.
During weeks of intensive Russian bombing and furious street combat, much of the city was devastated. Taking the port city is a crucial Russian war goal, and capturing it would allow more troops to join the Donbas operation.
Image Credit: Getty
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