Repeated international efforts to mediate the safe passage of civilians housed at the Azovstal plant eventually bore fruit over the weekend as the UN and the Red Cross confirmed that the evacuation was under way. Dozens of civilians arrived at a shelter in the Russian-controlled area 30km east of Mariupol on Sunday in two convoys of UN and Red Cross-branded vehicles, Reuters reported. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday night that more than 100 civilians had been evacuated in two days. “Today, for the first time in all the days of the war, this vital corridor is operational,” Zelensky told the Telegram. “For the first time there are two days of a real ceasefire.” Officials say about 1,000 civilians have sought refuge in the huge steel plant, hiding in basements for weeks as Russian artillery and airstrikes pound the site. Conditions have become increasingly desperate as water, food and medicine have become scarce. The evacuation began on Saturday night, when the ceasefire was finally observed and about 20 women and children were evacuated from the scene. Zelensky said the evacuees were expected to reach Zaporizhia, west of Mariupol and under Kiev control, on Monday morning. “I hope that tomorrow all the necessary conditions will be met for the transfer of people from Mariupol to continue,” Zelenski said. Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boichenko earlier Sunday urged residents in other parts of the city who wanted to leave to gather at an evacuation point. Satellite imagery published by Maxar Technologies shows the extent of the disaster at the steel plant, one of the largest in Europe. Russia has resorted to increasingly powerful airstrikes to try to break the Ukrainian resistance. A munition that fell in the area blew up an improvised hospital underground, injuring hundreds of sick and injured patients. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory for his forces in Mariupol on April 21, but Ukrainian forces have made the Azovstal plant a final challenge. Many attempts to evacuate civilians from Mariupol have been thwarted by the Russian military on the ground, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ last negotiation last week. An estimated 100,000 civilians are still living in the city. Yuri Rizhenkov, CEO of Metinvest, which owns the Azovstal plant, described the situation there in an interview last week. “It is a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said. “From what we understand, people are in terrible shape.”

Rizhenkov said people – mostly women and children, including some Azovstal employees – lived in about 50 bomb shelters below the factory. The chambers date back to Soviet times and were separate, rather than connected like catacombs, he said. The facility was bombed on an hourly basis, he added. Those housed there lived without electricity and outside food supplies for almost two months. Nancy Pelosi, chairwoman of the US House of Representatives, met with Zelensky in Kyiv over the weekend, according to plans released by the president’s office on Sunday. Pelosi, who led a congressional delegation, became the highest-ranking US official to visit the Ukrainian capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February. “We believe that we are visiting you to thank you for your fight for freedom. . . Your fight is a fight for everyone. “Our commitment is to be there for you until the race is over,” Pelosi said in a video posted by Zelensky on Twitter.