80 civilians rescued from Azovstal plant in Mariupol

Mariupol, May 2: Around 80 civilians have been evacuated from a besieged steel plant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday.

 

 

 

The UN said earlier that a "safe passage operation" was going on at the Azovstal plant, the last holdout in the port city that has endured a Russian blockade since the conflict began on February 24, while the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was "currently participating" in the operation.

 

 

 

Russia's defence ministry gave a lower figure of 80 civilians, adding: "Those who wished to leave for areas controlled by the Kyiv regime were handed over to UN and ICRC (Red Cross) representatives." Neither the UN or the ICRC have said how many civilians they are transporting and it was not immediately clear why the sides had given different figures. Thousands have been killed and millions displaced since Russia's invasion, and stories of the harsh conditions in besieged Mariupol have horrified the world. "Today we finally managed to start the evacuation of people from Azovstal," Zelensky said in a video address, adding that they were due to arrive in Ukraine-controlled Zaporizhzhia on Monday. "For the first time there were two days of real ceasefire on this territory. More than a hundred civilians have already been evacuated -- women and children first of all." He said he hoped the evacuations could continue Monday, adding: "We plan to start at 8 am (0500 GMT)." One Russian news report put the number of civilians still in the plant at more than 500.

 

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The Russian defence ministry earlier confirmed that civilians were leaving, releasing a video that showed cars and buses travelling in the dark marked with a "Z", the letter used by the Russian forces in the conflict. Western powers have rushed to send military aid to Ukraine and imposed heavy sanctions on Russia. "Do not be bullied by bullies," US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told reporters at a news conference in Rzeszow in southern Poland on Sunday after returning from Ukraine. "If they are making threats, you cannot back down." Pelosi met Zelensky on Saturday, becoming the most senior US figure to visit since the war began. She promised to enact the $33-billion (31-billion-euro) arms and support package announced by US President Joe Biden last week. Western powers have hit Russia with unprecedented sanctions, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Sunday more measures were in the pipeline. "We must use our economic and financial abilities to make Russia pay the price for what it is doing," he said.