The siege of Mariupol, during which Russian and Ukrainian forces have been pounding for almost two months, has turned the port city into a desert with an unknown number of dead and thousands trying to survive without water, sanitation or food. The city is under Russian control, but some fighters and civilians remain trapped in the Azovstal project – a huge Soviet-era factory founded by Josef Stalin and designed with a maze of warehouses and tunnels to withstand the onslaught. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register In one of the first major signs of an evacuation agreement, a group of about 40 people arrived at a temporary shelter on Sunday after leaving the area around the Azovstal factory, a Reuters photographer said. Reuters photos showed citizens arriving in the Russian-backed village of Bezimen in the Donetsk region, about 30km east of Mariupol, with Ukrainian license plates accompanied by Russian forces and vehicles with United Nations symbols. Later, another group of about 14 people arrived at the reception center, a Reuters photographer said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Thursday that intense talks were under way to allow the evacuation of Azovstal. A United Nations spokesman said he was not immediately available for comment. An aide to the mayor of Mariupol has declared a period of silence, pending official statements about the evacuations. Pope Francis on Sunday described the war in Ukraine as a “macabre setback for humanity” that made him “suffer and cry”, calling for humanitarian corridors to evacuate people trapped in the Mariupol steel plant. read more Two groups of civilians fled the residential area around the Azovstal project on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday. A video released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Sunday shows vehicles with United Nations and Red Cross symbols. Reuters could not verify the video of the Ministry of Defense. Russian President Vladimir Putin says the “special military operation” is necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Moscow had to defend Russian-speakers against persecution. He says Ukraine and Russia are essentially one country. Ukraine says it is fighting an imperialist seizure of land by Russia and that Putin’s allegations of genocide are nonsense. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Reuters. edited by Guy Faulconbridge and Angus MacSwan Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
