Civilians rescued from steel plant

A NEW international effort raced to rescue more civilians from the tunnels under a besieged steel plant in Mariupol and the Ukrainian city at large, even as fighters EWholed up at the sprawling complex made their last stand to prevent Moscow’s complete takeover of the strategic port.

The fight in the last Ukrainian stronghold of a city reduced to ruins by the Russian onslaught appeared increasingly desperate.

It comes amid growing speculation president Vladimir Putin wants to finish the battle for Mariupol so he can present a triumph to the Russian people in time for Monday’s Victory Day, the biggest patriotic holiday on the Russian calendar.

Some 2,000 Ukrainian fighters, by Russia’s most recent estimate, are holed up in a vast maze of tunnels and bunkers beneath Azovstal steelworks and they have repeatedly refused to surrender.

Ukraine said a few hundred civilians were also trapped there and as the battle has ramped up in recent days, fears for their safety have only grown.

UN officials announced on Thursday that they were launching a third effort to evacuate citizens from the plant and the city.

But on Friday, the UN did not divulge any new details of the operation; they have been similarly quiet about previous ones while they were ongoing.

“We conducted another stage of a complex operation to evacuate people from Mariupol and Azovstal,” the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said on Friday on the Telegram messaging app.

“I can say that we managed to take out almost 500 civilians.”

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has vowed to continue to “do all we can to get people out of these hellscapes”.

Smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol where Ukrainian fighters remain.