Civilians climb over rubble, board buses to flee besieged Mariupol

The first civilians evacuated from the bombed-out steel plant that has become the last stronghold of Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol slowly made their way toward safety Monday, as others who managed to escape the city described terrifying weeks of bombardment and deprivation.

More than 100 civilians — including elderly women and mothers with small children — left the sprawling Azovstal steel mill on Sunday and set out in buses and ambulances for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about  230 kilometres to the northwest, according to authorities and video released by the two sides.

Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov told the BBC that the evacuees were making slow progress and would probably not arrive on Monday as hoped for.

At least some of them were apparently taken to a village controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. The Russian military said that some chose to stay in separatist areas, while dozens left for Ukrainian-held territory. The information could not be independently verified.

In the past, Ukraine has accused Moscow's troops of taking civilians against their will to Russia. Moscow has said the people wanted to go to Russia.

Orlov said high-level negotiations were underway among Ukraine, Russia and international organizations on more evacuations.

The evacuation, if successful, would represent rare progress in easing the human cost of the almost 10-week war, which has caused particular suffering in Mariupol. Previous attempts to open safe corridors out of the Sea of Azov city and other places have broken down, with Ukrainian officials repeatedly accusing Russian forces of shooting and shelling along agreed-upon evacuation routes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped more people would be able to leave Mariupol in an organized evacuation on Monday. The city council told residents wanting to leave to gather at a shopping mall to wait for buses.

As in the past when official evacuations faltered, some people managed to get out of Mariupol on their own, while others remained trapped.

"People without cars cannot leave. They're desperate," said Olena Gibert, who was among those arriving an a UN-backed reception centre in Zaporizhzhia in dusty and often damaged private cars. "You need to go get them. People have nothing."

She said many people still in Mariupol wish to escape but can't say so openly amid the atmosphere of constant pro-Moscow propaganda.

Anastasiia Dembytska, who took advantage of the brief cease-fire around the evacuation of civilians from the steel plant to leave with her daughter, nephew and dog, said her family survived by cooking on a makeshift stove and drinking well water.

She said could see the steelworks from her window, when she dared to look out.

"We could see the rockets flying" and clouds of smoke over the plant, she said.