Ukraine Confirms Mariupol Evacuation

By Staff, Agencies

Ukraine admitted on Sunday that some 100 people have left a steel plant in the city of Mariupol and are heading to territory controlled by Ukrainian forces. The plant remains the last pocket of Kiev's resistance in the city otherwise controlled by Russian forces and the militias of the Donbass republics.

"Ukrainian officials are still working together with UN representatives on evacuating civilians from the area," Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelensky outlined, adding that the evacuees will be transferred to the Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye on Monday.

A spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Saviano Abreu, has also confirmed that the evacuation operation began on April 29 and is being coordinated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as by Russia and Ukraine.

Azovstal steel plant still houses hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers. Built in Soviet times, the facility has a massive network of underground tunnels, which has been turned into a fortress by the Ukrainian forces.