Small number of women, children evacuated from Mariupol steel plant

Some women and children were evacuated from a steel plant that is the last defensive stronghold in the bombed-out ruins of the port city of Mariupol, a Ukrainian official and Russian state news organizations said, but hundreds are believed to remain trapped with little food, water or medicine.

The United Nations was working to broker an evacuation of the up to 1,000 civilians living beneath the sprawling Soviet-era Azovstal plant after numerous previous attempts failed. Ukraine has not said how many fighters are also in the plant, the only part of Mariupol not occupied by Russian forces, but Russia put the number at about 2,000. An estimated 100,000 civilians remain in the city.

UN humanitarian spokesperson Saviano Abreu said the world organization was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv, but he could not provide details of the ongoing evacuation effort "because of the complexity and fluidity of the operation."

"There is, right now, ongoing, high-level engagements with all the governments, Russia and Ukraine, to make sure that you can save civilians and support the evacuation of civilians from the plant," Abreu told the AP. He would not confirm video posted on social media purportedly showing UN-marked vehicles in Mariupol.

Ukraine has blamed the failure of numerous previous evacuation attempts on continued Russian shelling.

In the town of Lyman in the Donetsk region, where at least half the population has fled Russian shelling, around 20 elderly people and children clutching bags along with their dogs and cats boarded a minivan marked with a sign reading "evacuation of children" in Ukrainian. It sped off toward the city of Dnipro as explosions were heard in the distance.

"The liberators have come and have freed us from what? Our lives?" said Nina Mihaylenko, a professor of Russian language and literature, referring to the Russian forces. Galina Zuev and her husband, Aleksander, opted to stay, unwilling to leave the place they'd spent their entire lives.

"I am living not so well. There is a war here. They are shelling all the time. The windows have been smashed in our house. The missiles are in the yards," said 68-year-old Galina. "It is frightening."

Russian forces have embarked on a major military operation to seize significant parts of southern and eastern Ukraine, the country's industrial heartland. Ukrainian forces fought village by village Saturday to hold back the Russian advance.

Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said Saturday that 19 adults and six children were brought out from the steelworks, but gave no further details.

A top official with the Azov Regiment, the Ukrainian unit defending the plant, said 20 civilians were evacuated during a ceasefire, though it was not clear if he was referring to the same group. There was no confirmation from the UN.

"These are women and children," Sviatoslav Palamar said in a video posted on the regiment's Telegram channel. He also called for the evacuation of the wounded: "We don't know why they are not taken away and their evacuation to the territory controlled by Ukraine is not being discussed."

Video and images from inside the plant, shared with The Associated Press by two Ukrainian women who said their husbands are among the fighters refusing to surrender there, showed unidentified men with stained bandages; others had open wounds or amputated limbs.

A skeleton medical staff was treating at least 600 wounded people, said the women, who identified their husbands as members of the Azov Regiment of Ukraine's National Guard. Some of the wounds were rotting with gangrene, they said.