Evacuation of steel plant in Mariupol planned
Created: 04/29/2022, 12:29 p.m
Satellite image of Azovstal Steelworks in Mariupol.
© Uncredited/Planet Labs PBC/AP/dpa
Hundreds of Ukrainian militants and civilians are still trapped in the Mariupol Steel Plant.
There has been a struggle for days to evacuate them.
A new attempt could be made today.
According to media reports, the evacuation of civilians from the besieged Azovstal steelworks is planned for today in the completely destroyed Ukrainian port of Mariupol.
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An "operation" is planned to rescue the trapped people, the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda reported, citing a source in the presidential office.
A first attempt at evacuation on Thursday failed because Russian troops fired on a military hospital on the factory premises.
There was initially no official confirmation of the report.
Fighters and civilians entrenched in the steel mill
Mariupol on the Sea of Azov was besieged by Russian troops shortly after the start of the war at the end of February and later largely taken.
In addition to the civilians, several hundred Ukrainian fighters are said to have holed up in the steel works of the strategically important city.
Russia had recently rejected an escape corridor for all those trapped.
The civilians are allowed to go, the Kremlin said.
The military, however, are not granted a free deduction.
dpa
