Evacuation of the first civilians from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, occupied by the Azov battalion soldiers. The Tass news agency announces that the first 25 are out, including six under 14s. Heavily bombed by the Russians, the large steel plant is the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol. In addition to the city’s defenders, many civilians had hidden in the plant’s underground bunkers.
“Regarding the evacuation of civilians and soldiers injured by Azovstal, the ceasefire only started at 11 (on Saturday) and not at 6 as it should have. Now, however, both sides respect it,” he said in a video Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Ukrainian Azov regiment, adding that he hopes that the women and children, extracted from the rubble, “will be brought to Zaporizhzhia in the territory controlled by Ukraine”. “We also ask for the evacuation not only of civilians, but also of wounded soldiers who need medical help”, he concludes.