According to the UN, more than 300 residents have been evacuated from the beleaguered southeastern city of Mariupol and four other towns to Ukrainian-held Zaporizhzhia in a second successful operation to transfer civilians out of areas susceptible to Russian shelling and bombing.
According to Osnat Lubrani, the UN humanitarian chief in Ukraine, many residents from Mariupol, Manhush, Berdiansk, Tokmak, and Vasylivka arrived Wednesday with nothing except the clothes they were wearing and are currently receiving humanitarian assistance. She also stated that they will receive “much-needed psychological support.”
Her statement did not specify if residents were evacuated from the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol, which is besieged by Russian soldiers and reportedly came under heavy fire on Wednesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says they are attempting to strike a deal to save people at the Azovstal mill, where civilians, including women and children, remain trapped. He added that the 344 individuals evacuated on Wednesday were in addition to the more than 150 people who were evacuated earlier this week from bunkers beneath the city’s steel mill.
