- Groups of civilians leave the Azovstal steel plant
- It can signal a deal to evacuate civilians
- The siege of Mariupol turned the city into a wasteland
- Pope says Mariupol “barbarically bombed”
BEZIMENE, Ukraine, May 1 (Reuters) – More than 50 civilians were evacuated Sunday from Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant in a convoy of vehicles bearing UN symbols, meaning a deal has been reached to ease the test of the most destructive siege in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The siege of Mariupol, in which Russian and Ukrainian forces have been fighting each other for nearly two months, has turned the port city into a wasteland with an unknown number of victims and thousands trying to survive without water, sanitation or food.
The city is under Russian control, but some militants and civilians remain hidden in Azovstal’s factories, a huge Soviet-era plant founded by Joseph Stalin and designed with a maze of bunkers and tunnels to withstand an attack.
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As one of the first signs of an evacuation agreement, a group of about 40 civilians arrived at a temporary accommodation center on Sunday after leaving the area around the Azovstal plant, a Reuters photographer said.
Reuters photos show civilians arriving in the village of Bezimenne in the Russian-backed Donetsk region, about 30km east (20 miles) of Mariupol, with Ukrainian numbers in a convoy of Russian forces and vehicles with UN symbols.
Another group of about 14 people later arrived at the accommodation center, a Reuters photographer said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said after a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Kyiv on Thursday that intensive discussions were under way to allow for the evacuation of Azovstal.
A UN spokesman said he was unable to comment immediately. An aide to the mayor of Mariupol has declared a period of silence pending official statements on the evacuations.
On Sunday, Pope Francis described the war in Ukraine as a “terrible regression of humanity” that makes him “suffer and cry”, calling for humanitarian corridors to evacuate people trapped in Mariupol’s steel production. Read more
Two groups of civilians left the residential area around the Azovstal plant on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
A video released by Russia’s Defense Ministry on Sunday shows vehicles bearing UN and Red Cross symbols. Reuters failed to verify the video of the Ministry of Defense.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says a “special military operation” is needed because the United States used Ukraine to threaten Russia and Moscow had to protect Russian-speakers from persecution.
He says Ukraine and Russia are essentially one country. Ukraine says it is fighting against the imperialist seizure of land by Russia and that Putin’s allegations of genocide are nonsense.
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Reuters report; edited by Guy Falconbridge and Angus McSwon
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