- wording
- BBC News World
7 hours
image source, Archyde.com
A group of regarding 20 civilians escaped from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine’s last stronghold in this southeastern city seized by Russian troops.
They are the first group to break out of the factory since Russian President Vladimir Putin besieged it last week.
Russian media reported that 25 civilians left Azovstal on Saturday, including six children under the age of 14, but did not specify their destination.
The information was confirmed shortly following by soldiers inside the steel mill, who indicated that the group was made up of 20 women and children.
“They were transferred to a suitable place and we hope that they will be evacuated to Zaporizhia, in territory controlled by Ukraine,” said the deputy commander of the Azov battalion, Sviatoslav Palamar.
Trapped and in a limit situation
Authorities from both countries are holding negotiations for the release of the approximately 1,000 civilians still trapped inside Azovstal.
“Block this industrial zone so that not even a fly can get through,” Putin told his troops last week, following announcing that the city of Mariupol had been taken.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told the BBC that the people who remain inside the factory are “on the edge between life and death”.
“They are waiting, praying for rescue. It’s hard to say how many days or hours we have to save their lives,” he said.
The plan of Putin in southern ukraine
At this moment, Russia is intensifying its offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Taking Mariupol would be key in Moscow’s plan to seize the entire southern coast of Ukrainewhich would link pro-Russian breakaway regions such as Donetsk and Luhansk in the east of the country with Crimea, which Russia already annexed in 2014.
image source, Getty Images
Russian troops took Mariupol with their strategy of total destruction.
It would also allow access to the pro-Russian region of Transnistria through Ukraine’s western border in Moldova.
On Saturday they heard three loud explosions in the port city of Odessain the southwest, which authorities say destroyed the airport runway, rendering it unusable.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, assured that the Russian troops “are increasing the intensity of their offensive in eastern Ukraine gradually and simultaneously in all directions.”
Moscow withdrew its soldiers from the regions around kyiv weeks ago to deploy them to eastern Ukraine.
“There are indications that the aggressor is preparing to further activate his military actions,” Colonel Motuzyanyk said.
image source, AFP
Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC News Mundo. Download the latest version of our app and activate it so you don’t miss out on our best content.
