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View of the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol
Photo: ANDREY BORODULIN / AFP
According to Russian news agencies, 25 civilians have been evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steelworks in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol.
Tass and Ria Nowosti reported on Saturday that six children were among the rescued, citing their respective correspondents.
The deputy commander of the Ukrainian Azov regiment, Svyatoslav Palamar, later spoke of 20 women and children leaving the factory premises in a video published on Telegram.
The civilians have been taken to an agreed location, "and we hope that they will be taken to Zaporizhia, in Ukrainian-controlled territory."
The respective information could not be checked independently.
According to Ukrainian sources, Russia is continuing its attacks on the besieged steelworks.
The plant is under constant fire, the Ukrainian military wrote in a Facebook post.
It will be attacked with bombs from the air.
According to Ukrainian information, a total of around 1,000 civilians are said to have sought refuge in the bunkers of the steelworks - and are now trapped.
Russia, in turn, speaks of around 2,500 Ukrainian fighters and foreign mercenaries who are said to have entrenched themselves there.
So far, they have refused to surrender and give up the strategically important city on the Azov Sea, most of which has already been taken by the Russians.
Mediated by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Kyiv and Moscow recently agreed to set up a humanitarian corridor for civilians to flee.
So far, however, there have been no major evacuation successes.
More than nine weeks after the start of the Russian war of aggression, the situation of the people trapped in the Azovstal works is considered catastrophic.
kfr/dpa/Reuters/AFP