Hundreds of civilians evacuated from Mariupol

Almost 500 civilians have been evacuated from the battered city of Mariupol and its besieged Azovstal steel plant since a UN-led rescue operation began, the head of Ukraine's presidential office said on May 6. 

"We have managed to evacuate almost 500 civilians," Andriy Yermak said on Telegram. He said Kyiv will "do everything to save all its civilians and military" stuck in the devastated city, adding that the evacuations would continue.

The Russian military had announced a three-day ceasefire at the site starting Thursday but a Ukrainian commander said there was still heavy fighting at the sprawling Azovstal complex, where hundreds of soldiers and civilians have been holed up for weeks under heavy bombardment.

Ten weeks into a war that has killed thousands, destroyed cities and uprooted more than 13 million people, Russia has focused its efforts on Ukraine's east and south, and taking full control of the now-flattened Mariupol would be a major victory for Moscow.
"A convoy is proceeding to get to Azovstal by tomorrow morning hopefully to receive those civilians remaining in that bleak hell," UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told a Ukraine donor conference in Warsaw on Thursday.
The mayor of Mariupol estimates around 200 civilians remain sheltering in dismal conditions in the plant's Soviet-era underground tunnels.

"We still have to evacuate civilians from there, women and children. Just imagine... more than two months of constant bombing and constant death," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on Thursday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told AFP "that a safe passage operation is ongoing" in coordination with the UN. The two organisations have already worked together...