Kyiv, May 8 : According to reports all women, children and elderly civilians who had taken shelter at the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol have now been evacuated, after a week-long effort led to the rescue of hundreds of people during an ongoing Russian assault at the plant, Khaleej Times reported on Sunday. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said “This part of the Mariupol humanitarian operation is now over”. The Azovstal steel mill built during the Soviet-era, has been the last holdout in Mariupol for Ukrainian forces, and has become a symbol of resistance against the Russian effort to capture swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine in the 10-week-old crisis. Both fighters and civilians have been trapped in the steel mill for weeks in deep bunkers and tunnels criss-crossing the site, with little food, water or medicine as the city around them comes under heavy bombardment. Russian forces backed by tanks and artillery once again tried to storm Azovstal on Saturday in an effort to dislodge the last Ukrainian defenders in the strategic port city on the Azov Sea, Ukraine’s military command said. Weeks of Russian bombardment has left the city of Mariupol in ruins, with the steel mill being largely destroyed. Evacuation of civilians started during pauses in fighting as a result of the deal brokered by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a late night address that more than 300 civilians had been rescued from the plant and now the focus will be on evacuating the wounded and medics, and helping residents elsewhere in Mariupol and surrounding settlements to safety, he said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian fighters in the plant have vowed not to surrender.
