Ukrainian defenders of a steel plant in Mariupol say Russian forces have started to storm the the last pocket of resistance.
The move comes almost two weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military not to storm the plant, but rather block it off.
The deputy commander of the Azov Regiment that is holed up in the Azovstal steel plant confirmed that Russian forces have started to storm the plant on Tuesday.
That comes after some civilians escaped the plant over the weekend in a U.N.-assisted evacuation effort.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Aid workers prepared hot food, wheelchairs and toys Tuesday for civilians slowly making their way to relative safety from the pulverized remnants of a steel plant in Mariupol, as Russian forces resumed strikes on the facility.
The Azovstal steel plant is the last holdout of Ukrainian resistance in a city that is otherwise controlled by Moscow’s forces and key to their campaign in Ukraine’s east. A senior U.S. official warned that Russia is planning to annex much of the country’s east later this month.
At a reception center, stretchers and wheelchairs were lined up, tiny children’s shoes dangled from a shopping cart and a pile of toys waited for the first convoy of civilians whose evacuation is being overseen by the United Nations and Red Cross.
Their arrival would represent a rare glimmer of good news in the nearly 10-week war sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that has killed thousands, forced millions to flee the country, laid waste to towns and cities, and shifted the post-Cold War balance of power in eastern Europe.
More than 100 people — including elderly women and mothers with small children — left Mariupol’s rubble-strewn steelworks over the weekend and set out in buses and ambulances.
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