Russian forces continue to fire on the Azovstal plant in Mariupol after the partial evacuation of civilians hiding in bomb shelters on the territory of the industrial enterprise.

The UN said the evacuation of more than a hundred people was successful.

“I confirm that 101 civilians were successfully evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol and other areas as part of a safe passage operation coordinated by the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross,” said UN coordinator for Ukraine Osnat Lubrani. on the organization’s website.

According to her, 101 people, including women, men, children and the elderly, “were able to leave the tunnels under the Azovstal plant and see the light of day in two months.” Another 58 people joined the column in Mangush, a village on the outskirts of Mariupol.

Since the beginning of the war, several hundred civilians from Mariupol have been hiding on the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant. In late April, Russia and Ukraine agreed to evacuate them, and a ceasefire was announced.

A total of 127 people successfully reached Zaporizhia, where they are provided with medical and psychological assistance.

“Some evacuees decided not to go with the convoy towards Zaporizhia,” Osnat Lubrani said.

Before the buses with the evacuees arrived in Zaporizhia, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that hundreds more civilians, including more than a dozen children, remained trapped under the rubble of the Azovstal plant.

She told reporters that rescuers asked for more time to get people out of the tunnels in the basement, where they were looking for shelter from Russian bombs, but this request was denied.

Vereshchuk says that on May 4, they will again call for the opening of a humanitarian corridor.

Meanwhile, the Russians continue to storm Azovstal in Mariupol, using barrel and naval artillery, dropping heavy bombs.

This was announced in a video message by Deputy Commander of the Azov Regiment Svyatoslav Palamar.

“A powerful assault on the territory of the Azovstal plant is underway with the support of armored vehicles, tanks, with attempts to land troops with the help of boats and a large number of infantry,” he said.

Palamar stressed that the military would do everything possible to repel the enemy assault, but called for immediate measures to evacuate civilians stationed at the plant to Ukrainian-controlled territory.

As a result of actions on the territory of “Azovstal” two civilian women were lost. Another ten people were injured to varying degrees.

The fighting began the day before, and on Tuesday the Russian military stormed Azovstal in several places, said Mikhail Vershinin, head of the Mariupol patrol police department.

“There was artillery and aviation training for almost a day. When the buses left, they paused. They started beating both at night and in the daytime, now they stormed the plant in several places.

The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that active hostilities have resumed in the Azovstal area. At the same time, the department stated that “the Ukrainian military took advantage of the regime of silence at Azovstal and went to the firing positions.”

“Units of the Russian army and the DNR, using artillery and aircraft, are beginning to destroy these firing positions,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

On April 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, ordered the lifting of the assault on the territory of the Azovstal plant, which the Russian military had been trying to seize for several weeks, calling it impractical.

“You don’t have to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground with these industrial facilities. Block this industrial area so that the fly doesn’t fly,” he told Shoigu after he said the Russian military needed three or four days. to complete this work in Azovstal.

The Ukrainian military, which is on Azovstal, said that the shelling did not stop after that. However, later it was possible to agree on silence for the evacuation of some people.

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