Hundreds of people remain trapped in underground shelters and tunnels beneath the vast industrial area – the last stronghold of resistance to the Russian siege of the devastated southern port city – which Russian forces resumed bombing at night. “The situation has become a sign of a real humanitarian catastrophe,” said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said about 100 civilians should arrive in the city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday. “For the first time in all the days of the war, this vital green corridor started operating,” Zelensky said at night. Some evacuees were initially relocated to a village held by Moscow-backed separatists, but were expected to be allowed to continue on Ukrainian-occupied territory if they wished. The head of Donetsk’s military administration said more evacuations as part of a UN / Red Cross plan were to begin Monday morning, with Russian news reporting that more than 500 civilians remained at the plant. Map An evacuee, Natalia Usmanova, 37, said after leaving the steelworks that she became hysterical every time the shelter began to shake. “I was so worried he might give up – I was terrified,” he told Reuters, recalling the widespread terror and lack of oxygen underground. Some who were not sheltered in the steelworks also managed to escape without help. Anastasiia Dembytska said she took advantage of the brief evacuation truce to leave with her daughter, nephew and dog. She said she had to cross countless checkpoints to reach Zaporizhzhia, waiting 18 hours outside before being allowed to cross. Another woman arrived in a funeral truck saying she had left Mariupol earlier and was hiding in a basement in a nearby village. Mother and daughter Dina (right) and Natasha arrive in Zaporizhia using their own vehicle. Photo: Ed Jones / AFP / Getty Images A UN spokesman, Saviano Abreu, said civilians arriving in Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles (230 kilometers) northwest of Mariupol, would receive immediate support, including psychological services. A team of Médecins Sans Frontières was already in place. There were no apparent plans to withdraw the remaining Ukrainian forces still at the plant, but an estimated 2,000 include members of Azov’s regiment, the National Guard, Marines, border guards and other units. One of the defenders of the steel industry, Dennis Slega, commander of the 12th Operational Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard, said Russian forces continued to bomb the plant on Sunday afternoon, as soon as the civilians were evacuated. Slegka said several hundred civilians were trapped along with nearly 500 wounded soldiers and “many” bodies. “Dozens of young children are still in the warehouses below the factory,” he said. Sviatoslav Palamar of Azov’s regiment called for the wounded fighters to be removed. Mariupol is a key target for Russia, as its occupation would deprive Ukraine of a vital port, open a land corridor to Crimea, which Moscow occupied from Ukraine in 2014, and free troops for what has happened. the main focus of the invasion: the complete achievement of control of the eastern Donbass region. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST Ukraine’s military said Monday that Russia had relocated several battalions from Mariupol to the heavily bombed town of Popasna in Donetsk’s Luhansk region, with the towns of Rubizhne, Sievierodonetsk, Slovyansk and Barvinkove also under siege. “I do not even want to talk about what is happening to the people living in Popasna, Rubizne and Novotoskivske at the moment,” said Luhansk Governor Sergie Gaidai. “These cities simply do not exist anymore. “They have been completely destroyed.” Zelensky’s office said Monday that at least three people had been killed and three others, including a child, wounded in Luhansk in the past 24 hours, while four others had been injured in bombings in neighboring Donetsk. Two others died in Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region, further west. Western officials say Russia has been slow to attack the east and has captured some villages, but is causing heavy civilian casualties through indiscriminate bombing. Ukrainian forces are fighting village to village and in some places have regained territory. “Everyone understands that we have to keep the line here,” Lieutenant Yevgen Samoylov of the 81st Brigade told AFP as his unit exited the front line near the town of Sviatohirsk. “We can not let the enemy approach. We are trying to keep it with all our might. “ The UK Department of Defense said more than a quarter of the 120 “regular battalions” – about 65% of Moscow’s total battle force – deployed in Ukraine could now be “effective in combat” due to staff losses and equipment. “It will probably take years for Russia to rebuild these forces,” he said. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says its drones destroyed two small Russian Raptor patrol cars in the Black Sea, while the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region reported two explosions in the early hours of the morning, the latest in a series of fires and explosions in recent weeks. shops and fuel depots in the area.
