Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Dozens of Ukrainian civilians, including women and children, remained trapped Thursday in a Mariupol steel mill that has been rocked by loud explosions as Russian forces battle for control of Ukraine’s last stronghold in the ruined port city.
The United Nations said it was carrying out a third operation to evacuate civilians from the port city and the besieged Azovstal steel plant, where some 200 civilians remain holed up in underground bunkers with little food or water, though the UN secretary-general , António Guterres, refused to give details of the movement “to avoid undermining the possible success”, it is known that a convoy of vehicles was heading to Azovstal, where it should arrive on Friday morning, to proceed with the evacuation.
“I hope that continued coordination with Moscow and kyiv will lead to more humanitarian pauses to allow civilians to pass safely from the fighting and for aid to reach those who need it,” Guterres told the Security Council.
“We must continue to do everything we can to get people out of these hellish landscapes,” he added.
President Vladimir Putin assured Russia was prepared to provide safe passage for civilians, but reiterated calls for Ukrainian forces to disarm. Desperately holding on, Ukrainian fighters have reported fierce battles with Russian troops.
Putin declared victory over Mariupol on April 21 and ordered his forces to seal off the Soviet-era plant but not to venture into its network of underground tunnels. The Kremlin denies Ukraine’s accusations that Russian troops stormed the plant in recent days.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said people would be evacuated from Mariupol at noon on Friday, but gave no further details.
A Ukrainian fighter who said he was hiding in Azovstal accused Russian forces of breaching the plant’s defenses for a third day despite Moscow’s earlier commitment to halt military activity, from Thursday to Saturday, to allow evacuations. civilians.
fighting
Ukraine’s stubborn defense of Azovstal has underscored Russia’s failure to take major cities in a 10-week war that has united Western powers to arm kyiv and punish Moscow.
Ukraine and Russia specified that the fighting had been intense in the south and east during the last day.
Ukrainian authorities reported shelling of villages near a front line dividing the territory it holds in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions from land held by Russian-backed separatists.
The Ukrainian air force said it had shot down three Russian cruise missiles and four aircraft, including two Sukhoi fighter jets, while Russia said it had killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers overnight.