At last, all women and children are out of Mariupol’s steel plant bunker
ALL the remaining women, children and pensioners trapped in a subterranean hell beneath the Azovstal steelworks in the besieged city of Mariupol were last night dramatically released.
After days of tense negotiations involving ‘influential intermediaries’ and ‘influential states’, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said: ‘The President’s order has been carried out – all women, children and the elderly have been evacuated from Azovstal. This part of the Mariupol humanitarian operation has been completed.’
The Russian news agency Tass said 50 civilians, including 11 children, had been released, although previous reports had suggested several hundred civilians were still trapped inside. For those allowed to leave, it was their first glimpse of sunlight for more than two months.
While the release was not immediately confirmed by the United Nations or the Red Cross, which coordinated the latest efforts, Ukrainian fighters still holed up in a labyrinth
‘There were times when we were losing hope we’d ever get out’
of tunnels said on social media that they and the Russians had used a white flag system to impose a short ceasefire to allow the civilians to leave.
Although the location of those freed was unclear last night, it is thought likely that they were being ‘screened’ by Russian forces at a checkpoint 20 miles away from the encircled steelworks.
The evacuation came hours after Russian forces backed by tanks and artillery launched another attempt to storm Azovstal, which has become a symbol of Ukrainian defiance.
Satellite photographs released on Friday showed vast devastation at the sprawling steel mill, with gaping holes in the roofs of the few buildings left standing.
Earlier, in his nightly address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he was working on a diplomatic effort to free the remaining civilians. ‘Influential mediators are involved. Influential states,’ he said.
Several humanitarian corridor attempts had been made for Mariupol over recent weeks, many thwarted, although up to 150 civilians managed to flee last Sunday. Around 500 are thought to have left Azovstal over the past week.
Speaking after she and her two children, aged six and 11, were evacuated from Mariupol last week, a woman called Katarina said: ‘From the morning and during the night, we were bombarded. Artillery, rockets, air strikes.
‘Our children couldn’t sleep. They were crying. They were scared. And us as well. There were several times when we were losing hope that we would ever get out. We are extremely glad to be in Ukraine.’
The evacuations have been dangerous. Three Ukrainian fighters were killed and six more wounded on Friday when around 50 civilians fled to safety. Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, the deputy commander of the Azov Regiment based at the steel mill, accused Russian forces of breaking a ceasefire by firing an anti-tank weapon at a vehicle.
The prospects of up to 2,000 Ukrainian fighters still below Azovstal now appears bleak. With the civilians gone, Russian soldiers are expected to storm the tunnels with renewed vigour and brutality.
Although Vladimir Putin has declared victory in Mariupol, he would dearly like to have the fall of Azovstal to toast at tomorrow’s Victory Day parade in Moscow.
If Azovstal falls, Russia will seize complete control over the ruins of the city, a strategically important hub on the southern Ukraine coast.
Freed from fighting there, experts say Russian troops could then be moved north to join the battle for Donbas, which many think could decide the outcome of the war.