Ukraine war: civilian evacuees from Azovstal and Mariupol reach Zaporizhzhia
- Evacuees, some with young children, left buses that had transported them to a shopping centre car park in Zaporizhzhia, a city in southern Ukraine
- ‘I’m relieved to confirm that we managed to bring 174 more people to safety from the hell of Mariupol today,’ UN humanitarian coordinator Osnat Lubrani tweeted
Eight buses carrying 174 Mariupol civilians, including 40 evacuated from the Black Sea port’s besieged Azovstal steelworks, arrived in Ukraine-controlled Zaporizhzhia on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reported.
The 40 were evacuated on Saturday from the steel plant, where the last Ukrainian soldiers in the devastated city are holed up and surrounded by Russian troops.
Evacuees, some with young children, left white buses that had transported them to a shopping centre car park in Zaporizhzhia, a city in southern Ukraine that has become a hub for those fleeing Russian-occupied areas.
Humanitarian workers escorted elderly people, including a woman in a wheelchair.
“I’m relieved to confirm that we managed to bring 174 more people to safety from the hell of Mariupol today,” Osnat Lubrani, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, tweeted.
“Our work is not yet done. I don’t forget those who’ve been left behind,” she added.
More than 600 people have now been evacuated from Mariupol through safe passages but “scores” could not join the convoys in recent days, Lubrani said in a statement.
“We will continue our engagement with both parties to the conflict to make sure that those who want to leave have the guarantees to do so safely and in the direction of their choice,” she added.