Zaporizhia, Ukraine (AP) – The long -awaited attempt to evacuate people from a steel mill in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Sunday is already underway, the UN said. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi revealed that she visited the President of Ukraine to show the unwavering support of the US in defending the country from Russian aggression.
UN humanitarian spokesman Saviano Abrum told The Associated Press that the evacuation of people from the Azovstal steel plant had contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross and Ukrainian and Russian officials.
An estimated 100,000 people are still trapped in the besieged Mariupol, including up to 1,000 civilians who, along with about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters, sank under an iron mill during the Soviet era – the only part of the city not occupied. of the Russians. .
Abrum called the situation “very difficult” and gave no further details. Like other evacuations, the success of the mission in Mariupol depended on the arrival of Russia and its forces at Ukraine’s points at the long series of checkpoints.
People fleeing Russian -occupied territories sometimes describe their vehicles as being hit by gunshots. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of bombing evacuation routes, which the parties have agreed to.
Russia’s high-risk attack On Ukraine’s southern coast and in the country’s eastern industrial center, Ukrainian forces are fighting in the countryside and more and more civilians are fleeing airstrikes and artillery shelling as the war on their border.
Pelosi, a California Democrat vice president in office, is the oldest U.S. lawmaker to travel to Ukraine since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. His visit on Saturday came just days after Russia fired a missile at capital on his visit. By United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Speaking at a press conference in the Polish city of Jes ესო s on Sunday, Pelosi said he and other members of the U.S. Congressional delegation met for three hours in Kiev, Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and delivered “message of gratitude to Americans.” For his guidance. “
Congressman Jason Crowe, a United States Army veteran and member of the House Intelligence and Armed Services Committee, said he came to Ukraine in three directions: “guns, weapons and ammunition”.
“We need to make sure the Ukrainians have what they need to win. What we have seen over the past few months is their brutality, their strong pride, their ability to fight and their ability to win, if they have support to do so, “he said. Democrat from Colorado.
Russian troops launched a large military operation to seize a large part of southern and eastern Ukraine after they failed to seize Kiev. Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov, is a major target due to its strategic location on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia took over from Ukraine in 2014.
“Every leader in the free world knows what Russia did to Mariupol.” And Russia will not be punished for that, “Zelensky said in an overnight video speech. He warned that Russia was” gathering additional forces. against our military for new attacks in the east of the country. “
Limited evacuations from the city were carried out on Saturday, but details were unclear due to the number of parties involved in the talks and the unstable situation on the ground.
The Russian Defense Ministry said 46 people, a group of 25 people and 21 others had been evacuated from around the Azovstal plant.
A senior official from the Azov regiment, a Ukrainian unit guarding the steel mill, said on Saturday that 20 women and children had been evacuated from the plant. Civilians took refuge in a labyrinth of underground tunnels while the factory was under siege.
In a video posted on the Regiment Telegram channel, the regiment’s deputy commander Svyatoslav Palamar called for the evacuation of wounded Ukrainian fighters and civilians. “We do not know why they were not evacuated and why their evacuation to Ukraine-controlled territory was not considered,” he said.
An Associated Press reporter saw women and children arriving in Beziman, a village controlled by Moscow -backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, accompanied by representatives of the United Nations and Red Cross. The UN did not confirm that the people left Mariupol on Saturday.
Elsewhere in the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine, about 20 adults and children carrying bags of cats and dogs boarded a minivan on Saturday in the city of Lyman, where at least half the population fled in the bombing of Russia. In Ukrainian, the “evacuation of children” went to the city of Dnipro, because the sound of explosions could be heard from afar.
“Where did the liberators come from and from where did they set us free? “Your life?” Said Nina Mikhailenko, a professor of Russian language and literature in the Russian forces.
Without sirens and air strike alarms, people in the southeastern city of Zaporizhia visited cemeteries on Sunday as Ukrainians celebrated Orthodox Christian Day.
“If our dead stood up and saw it, they would say,‘ Impossible, they’re worse than the Germans, ’” said Henadi Bondarenko, 61, as he and his family celebrated the day at a dinner table. picnic at the grave. “All our dead will join the battle, including the Cossacks.”
It is difficult to get a complete picture of the fighting taking place in eastern Ukraine, as airstrikes and artillery bombings have become extremely dangerous for journalists to travel. Both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels have also imposed severe restrictions on relations in the war zone.
But Western military analysts suggest that the attack in the Donbas region, which includes Mariupol, will be slower than expected. So far, it appears that Russian troops and separatists have made only small gains in the month that Moscow says it is focusing its military forces on the east.
Videos and photos from inside the Mariupol steel mill shared with the Associated Press of two Ukrainian women who say their husbands were among the fighters who refused to surrender showed unknown men with painted bandages; Others have open wounds or amputated legs.
Skeletal medical personnel are treating at least 600 wounded, the women said they named their husbands members of the Azov regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard. They said some of the wounds were healing with gangrene.
The AP could not independently verify the date and location of the video, which the women say was shot last week in a maze of corridors and bunkers under the factory.
In number, Russia’s military strength is more than Ukraine. A few days before the war began, Western intelligence determined that Russia had deployed up to 190,000 troops to the border; Ukraine’s permanent troops are approximately 200,000, spread across the country.
With huge reserves of firepower, the Russian attack could still grow and overtake the Ukrainians. In total, the Russian military has approximately 900,000 active duty employees. Russia also has a larger air force and navy.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid have flowed into Ukraine since the war began, but Russia’s large arms mean Ukraine still needs substantial support.
Fish reported by Slovyansky. Associated Press reporters John Gambrel and Yura Karmanau in Lviv, Mstislav Chernov in Kharkov, Lolita Baldor in Washington, Tricia Thompson in Rome, and AP staff from around the world contributed to this report.
Source: Huffpost
