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President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday that approximately 100 citizens had been evacuated from a besieged steel mill in Mariupol, Ukraine.
The United Nations said earlier that a “safe passage operation” was underway at the Azovstal plant, the last holdout in the port city that has been under Russian blockade since the conflict began on February 24, and that the International Committee of the Red Cross was “currently participating” in it.
“Those who wished to leave for areas held by the Kyiv administration were handed over to UN and ICRC (Red Cross) personnel,” Russia’s defence ministry said, quoting a lower figure of 80 civilians.
The UN and the ICRC haven’t indicated how many civilians they’re transferring, and it’s unclear why the two parties gave conflicting statistics.
Since Russia’s invasion, tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced, and accounts from besieged Mariupol have shocked the globe.
“We finally managed to start the evacuation of residents from Azovstal today,” Zelensky said in a video speech, adding that they will arrive in Ukraine-controlled Zaporizhzhia on Monday.
“On this region, a true truce was observed for the first time in two days. Over a hundred individuals have been evacuated so far, the majority of whom are women and children.”
“We plan to start at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT),” he said, adding that he hoped the evacuations will continue Monday.
According to a Russian news outlet, there are still more than 500 individuals inside the plant.
The Russian defence ministry had already verified that residents were fleeing, releasing a video showing automobiles and buses driving in the dark, emblazoned with the symbol “Z,” the letter used by Russian soldiers in the fight.
‘Do not succumb to bullying.’
Western governments hastened to offer military aid to Ukraine and slapped Russia with harsh penalties.
“Do not be bullied by bullies,” US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned reporters after returning from Ukraine at a news conference in Rzeszow, southern Poland, on Sunday.
“You can’t back down if they’re threatening.”
On Saturday, Pelosi met with Zelensky, making her the highest-ranking American official to visit the country since the war began. She pledged to carry out US President Joe Biden’s $33 billion (31 billion euro) armaments and support package unveiled last week.
Western powers have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell indicated on Sunday that further restrictions are in the works.
“We must utilise our economic and financial resources to make Russia pay a price for its actions,” he said.
According to diplomats in Brussels, the EU will propose a six-to-eight-month phase-in of a ban on Russian oil imports.
Russia has been looking for methods to counter international pressure.
Russia’s lower house of parliament speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, has stated that Moscow has the authority to seize the assets of countries it perceives to be unfriendly. “It’s only reasonable to take equivalent actions,” he said.
– The Russian ruble has been introduced –
Although there have been Russian missile strikes across Ukraine, primarily targeting infrastructure and supply routes, the war has been most violent in the east and south.
As Moscow’s forces march farther into the eastern Donetsk area, four civilians were killed by Russian shelling in the town of Lyman on Sunday, and another in a neighbouring town, regional governor Pavlo Krylenko said.
Three persons were killed in shelling of residential areas in and around Kharkiv, according to regional governor Oleg Synegubov.
Russia has taken steps to strengthen its grip on territories it controls, introducing the Russian ruble in the Kherson region on Sunday, to be used alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia at first.
“We will switch to the ruble zone starting May 1,” Kirill Stremousov, a civilian and military administrator in Kherson, was quoted by Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti as saying earlier.
He claimed the hryvnia might be utilised for four months before “totally switching to ruble settlements.”
– ‘Keep a close eye on the line’
Russian troops on the front lines in the east have moved slowly but steadily in several locations, aided by overwhelming artillery fire.
However, in recent days, Ukrainian forces have retaken significant area, particularly in the Kharkiv region.
The settlement of Ruska Lozova, which evacuees stated had been occupied for two months, was one among the locations reclaimed from Russian control.
“It had been a horrible two months. Nothing except a terrifying and unrelenting terror “After arriving in Kharkiv, Natalia, a 28-year-old Ruska Lozova evacuee, told AFP.
Kyiv has acknowledged that Russian soldiers have taken control of a string of settlements in the Donbas region and has asked Western nations to send more heavy weapons to help boost its defences.
As his battalion rotated out from the front line in the village of Sviatogirsk, Lieutenant Yevgen Samoylov of the 81st Brigade told AFP, “Everyone realises that we must guard the line here.”
“We can’t allow the enemy to get much closer to us. We make every effort to keep it in place.”
