Ukraine pushes to rescue civilians in Mariupol plant
KYIV, Ukraine — A furious bid was underway Friday to rescue hundreds of civilians still trapped in the besieged Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian soldiers sheltering in a maze of underground tunnels have prevented Russian forces from fully capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “torturing to death” those still inside the sprawling complex.
Others in his government, though, still held out hopes of plucking a few more to safety.
“The next stage of rescuing our people from Azovstal is underway at the moment,” Andriy Yermak, head of Zelenskyy’s office, said early Friday.
The rescue attempt — the third of its kind in the past week by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross — comes amid renewed ground assaults on the sprawling steelworks by Russian troops, despite earlier pledges that they would only seal it off.
At the same time, fighting continued in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have redoubled their efforts to capture the
Donbas region. Ukraine has battled against proRussia separatists in the area for eight years. There are suggestions that Ukrainian soldiers could try to mount a counteroffensive to push back Russian troops from around the key city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest.
The attacks on the Mariupol steelworks are believed to be intensifying in order to subdue the last remnant of armed resistance in the southern city before Monday’s Victory Day celebrations in Russia, marking the Soviet
Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. The annual patriotic event is highlighted by a military parade in Moscow’s Red Square and other cities, and the fall of Mariupol would give Russian President Vladimir Putin a symbolic victory at a time when most Western allies are uniting behind Ukraine.
In the latest show of such support, First Lady Jill Biden left the U.S. for a trip to Romania and Slovakia to visit U.S. troops and meet with Ukrainian refugees, whose ranks have swelled to more than 5.7 million since Russia invaded their homeland Feb. 24.
“It’s so important to the president and to me that the Ukrainian people know that we stand with them,” the first lady told reporters before departing.
Meanwhile, a new human rights report cited “compelling” evidence of atrocities against Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops when a region near the capital, Kyiv, was occupied during roughly the first month of the war.
Amnesty International, in a report Friday, cited proof of abuses including execution-style killings and torture. Despite a trail of mutilated bodies left behind, Russia has claimed evidence uncovered by international investigators is phony.
The Western response to the war has been relatively unified, but a fresh crack appeared Friday when Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his country could not support a European Union proposal to ban Russian oil imports. Hungary, an EU member since 2004, relies on Russia for two-thirds of its oil supplies.
Orban said an embargo would be tantamount to dropping an “atomic bomb” on Hungary’s economy. Slovakia, which is also heavily dependent on Russian oil, has also expressed reservations.
With Ukraine pleading for more military aid, Germany confirmed that it would send seven of its most advanced self-propelled howitzers — massive artillery guns mounted on tracked armored vehicles. The assistance comes after Germany lifted its policy of not sending heavy weapons to conflict zones last week after growing calls to do more to help Ukraine’s defense.