Bloody fighting with Russian forces thwarted efforts to bring civilians from the Azovstal steel plant to safety the previous day
Ukraine’s general staff say Russian forces are continuing their attempts to fully take over the Donetsk and Luhansk regionsSmoke rises above a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine May 5, 2022. Picture taken May 5 2022. Piicture: REUTERS/ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO
UN-brokered evacuations of some of the hundreds of civilians who had taken shelter in the plant’s network of tunnels and bunkers began last weekend, but were halted in recent days by renewed fighting. Moscow calls its actions a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression. More than 5-million Ukrainians have fled abroad since the start of the invasion.
It was not possible to independently verify either side’s statements about events on the battlefield.In Mariupol, Ukraine’s general staff said Russian efforts to overrun the Azovstal plant had resumed, with air support.Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow was prepared to provide safe passage for the civilians but reiterated calls for Ukrainian forces inside to disarm.
The stubborn Ukrainian defence of Azovstal has underlined Russia’s failure to take major cities in a war that has united Western powers in arming Kyiv and punishing Moscow with the most severe sanctions ever imposed on a major power.
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