Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, said “a ceasefire has finally been reached”. He said he hoped the evacuations from the steel plant would continue until everyone in the factory, civilians and soldiers, escaped. The Azov Regiment, a purely voluntary military infantry unit, is helping to defend the last part of the besieged port city not occupied by Vladimir Putin’s forces. “Safe passage operation” underway in Mariupol, UN confirms – Ukrainian news live “There has been no ceasefire in the past despite the enemy’s statements about it. At the same time, we have faced mortar shelling. In the last two days we can say that there was indeed a ceasefire at the announced time,” he said. He added that the Azovstal plant was scattered with mines, rockets, artillery shells and unexploded ordnance – and defended the 36th Marine Brigade, police, border guards, coast guard and more. “Some of them are guarding the ground, some of them are preventing attacks, some of them are responsible for the ceasefire, some of them are helping to clear the rubble under the bombing,” he said. Key developments:
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, meets with President Zelenskyy in Kyiv The British ambassador feels “comfortable” after returning to the capital – despite Russian threats EU energy ministers will hold emergency talks on Monday Mariupol defenders’ wives call for evacuation of soldiers Germany vows to stop using Russian oil exports by late summer
Image: Russian invasion of Ukraine
The deputy commander said the presence of children and civilians had made the battle difficult and there were many wounded in the factory. He said there is not enough water and the air smells of decaying bodies. As for the challenges in the next stages of evacuation, he said that there are many ruins and they do not have “special equipment” to remove them. Image: Azov Deputy Commander-in-Chief Svyatoslav Palamar issues video statement from Mariupol “It is difficult for soldiers to collect slabs that weigh tons only with their hands,” he said. Mr Palamar said the fighters at the factory would continue to resist until instructed not to do so. Footage posted on the Internet by Ukrainian forces shows elderly women and mothers with young children wrapped in winter clothes being helped as they climbed into a steep pile of debris from the steel plant before boarding a bus. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:44 The humanitarian corridor “works for the first time” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 100 civilians, mostly women and children, were due to arrive in Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhia on Monday. “Today, for the first time in all the days of the war, this vital (humanitarian) corridor has started to work,” he said in a pre-recorded speech posted on the Telegram messaging application channel. A UN spokesman said the “safe passage operation” began on Saturday and was coordinated with the Red Cross, Russia and Ukraine. Mr Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter: “Thanks to our team! Now, together with the #UN, they are working to evacuate other civilians from the factory.” Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:55 Evacuation under the steelworks On Sunday, a convoy of UN and Russian military vehicles transported more than 50 people to tent camps in the village of Bezimen, about 18 miles (30 kilometers) east of Mariupol, according to Reuters. More evacuations in Mariupol Meanwhile, the Mariupol city council told the Telegram that the evacuation of civilians from other parts of the city would begin on Monday morning. People fleeing the Russian-occupied territories have previously described their vehicles being shot at, and Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused Putin’s forces of bombing evacuation routes agreed upon by both sides. One of the defenders of the Azovstal plant said Russian forces had resumed bombing the plant later Sunday, shortly after a group of civilians was evacuated. Dennis Slegka, commander of the 12th Operational Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, said on Sunday night that several hundred civilians remained trapped along with nearly 500 wounded soldiers and “many” dead. About 100,000 civilians are still in the wider city of Mariupol, where thousands of Ukrainians have been killed in relentless attacks that have devastated residential neighborhoods. And about 1,000 civilians are believed to have been chased by about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters under the Soviet-era steel plant. Image: Civilians fleeing the area near Azovstal are pictured with pro-Russian troops in Bezimenne, about 18 miles east of Mariupol On the battlefield A car bomb had exploded at an Iraqi police recruiting center at Kursk, bordering Ukraine, on Sunday, officials said. Following a series of recent fires and explosions in Russian areas near the border. In the Donetsk region, four civilians were killed and 11 others wounded by Russian bombardment on Sunday, the Ukrainian governor said. Subscribe to Ukraine War Calendars on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Spreaker Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote in a Telegram post that the deaths and seven of the injured were in the northern city of Lyman. He added that another person also died in the city of Bakhmut from injuries received in the Luhansk region. In his overnight speech Sunday, President Zelensky accused Moscow of waging a “war of extermination” in connection with strikes against civilian targets. He said the Russian bombings hit food, grain and fertilizer depots and residential neighborhoods in Kharkiv, Donbas and other areas. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:01 Russian advance “has stopped in the east” “The targets they choose prove once again that the war against Ukraine is a war of extermination for the Russian army,” he said. His comments came as the Ukrainian military said a Russian offensive along a wide front in the east of the country was halted following human and material losses caused by Ukrainian forces. In a Facebook post, the Ukrainian army said Russian troops were trying to advance into the Sloboda, Donetsk and Tauride areas, but were stopped by Ukrainian forces who continue to fight village by village.
