Russia renews assault on Mariupol plant
Some civilians leave ruined city, others hunt for essentials
KYIV: Russian forces launched a major assault on Tuesday on the Azovstal steel plant, the last holdout of Ukrainian forces in the devastated southern port city of Mariupol, as 101 civilians who had been trapped in the site for weeks were finally brought to safety.
“We are so thankful for everyone who helped us. There was a moment we lost hope, we thought everyone forgot about us,” evacuee Anna Zaitseva said after arriving in the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia, her six-month-old baby in her arms.
The United Nations and Red Cross said 101 people were evacuated from the maze of Soviet-era tunnels underneath the sprawling Azovstal plant as part of a five-day operation.
“We will continue doing everything we can to get all our people out of Mariupol, out of Azovstal,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video address.
“It’s hard, but we need everyone, everyone who remains there, civilian and military.”
Another 58 people joined their convoy to Zaporizhzhia from the city of Mangush, outside Mariupol, said UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine Osnat Lubrani.
She warned there “may be more civilians who remain trapped” in Azovstal, saying the UN was ready to return to bring them to safety.
But Russian forces on Tuesday resumed attacks on the steel plant, where the Ukrainian fighters are making their last stand in Mariupol after almost constant bombardment since Moscow’s invasion on Feb 24.
It was one of a series of assaults on Tuesday across Ukraine, where authorities said 21 civilians were killed in the eastern Donetsk region.
Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of
Ukraine’s Azov military unit, said Russia was assaulting the Azovstal plant with armoured vehicles and tanks and was also attempting to bring “a large number” of infantry by boat.
The Russian army confirmed its forces and pro-Moscow separatists were targeting Azovstal with artillery and planes, accusing Azov members and other Ukrainian troops of using a pause in fighting to take up combat positions.
The residents of Mariupol, a strategic port in southern Ukraine, have been living in desperate conditions without food, water and cut off from communications from the outside world.
The city is now largely calm, AFP journalists saw on a recent press tour organised by Russian forces, with the remaining locals emerging from hiding to a ruined city.
Daily life is dominated by the hunt for the most basic of essentials, they said.
“We don’t live, we survive,” said video game designer Irina, 30, as she gathered food and water from an aid distribution point.