War in Ukraine: Thousands of people are killed and more than 13 million are forced to flee their homes.
Mariupol:
At least 20 civilians, including some children, were able to leave a heavily damaged steel plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Saturday, which could be the start of a major evacuation. than the long-awaited in the Russian-held part of the city.
Ukrainian fighters from the Azov regiment, which is defending the site, said 20 civilians had left, possibly to the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) to the northwest.
Russia’s Tass news agency also issued a similar report, although giving the number of evacuees at 25.
A UN-planned evacuation was underway, although it was unclear whether Saturday’s evacuation was UN-directed and whether further evacuations were imminent. are not. There were no immediate details on the condition of the evacuees.
But the fact that the evacuation took place is important. Conditions in a vast network of tunnels under the Azovstal steel plant – where hundreds of civilians are said to still be sheltering, along with Ukrainian fighters – were said to be brutal, and evacuation efforts preceded that was useless.
The apparent cease-fire in Mariupol comes as Russian attacks continue unabated across Ukraine, heaviest in the fiercely contested eastern regions, but with attacks far to the east. west like Odessa, on the Black Sea coast.
Odessa regional governor Maxim Marchenko said a Russian missile strike destroyed the airport’s runway, as Russia continued to target infrastructure and supply lines deep in the west of the country.
There were no victims from the airport attack near the historic city of one million people.
Near Bucha, the town near Kyiv that has become synonymous with accusations of Russian war crimes, Ukrainian police on Saturday said they had found three bodies shot in the head and with their hands tied.
Three bodies were found in a pit that were “brutally killed” by Russian soldiers – each shot in the head, police said in a statement.
“The victims’ hands were tied, cloths covered their eyes and some were gagged. There were traces of torture on the corpses.”
Russian forces on Saturday also continued their relentless shelling into the east of the country, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others.
Clean up debris
In Mariupol, the Azov regiment on Saturday said it had cleared debris from an overnight Russian shelling to rescue trapped civilians.
From the heavily damaged port area of Mariupol, AFP on Friday heard intense shelling from Azovstal during a media trip organized by the Russian military, with explosions seconds apart.
“Twenty civilians, women and children … have been moved to a suitable place and we hope that they will be evacuated to Zaporizhzhia, in the territory controlled by Ukraine,” said Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy head of state. Azov regiment commander said.
But Denis Pushilin, the leader of the separatist region east of Donetsk, accused Ukrainian forces of “acting like outright terrorists” and of taking civilians hostage in the steel mill.
On the eastern front lines, Russian troops advanced slowly but steadily in some areas – aided by the massive use of artillery – but Ukrainian forces also recaptured some territory within days. recently, especially around Kharkiv.
One of the areas that Russia has regained control of is the village of Ruska Lozova, which evacuees say has been occupied for two months.
“It was two months of terrible fear. Nothing else, a terrible and unrelenting fear,” Natalia, a 28-year-old evacuee from Ruska Lozova, told AFP after arriving in Kharkiv.
Svyatoslav, 40, who did not want to give his full name, said: “We have been in the basement without food for two months, we are eating what we have.
Putin ‘desperate’
Thousands of people have been killed and more than 13 million forced from their homes since Russia’s invasion of its pro-Western neighbor began on February 24, according to the United Nations.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby choked on emotion on Friday when he described the devastation in Ukraine and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “depravity”.
Ukrainian prosecutors say they have pinpointed more than 8,000 war crimes committed by the Russian military and are investigating 10 Russian soldiers on suspicion of atrocities in Bucha.
Russia has denied any involvement in the civilian deaths in Bucha.
However, Russian officials confirmed on Friday that their forces had carried out an airstrike on Kyiv a day earlier during a visit by United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, the first such attack. into the capital for almost two weeks. A journalist died in the attack.
– Prisoner swap –
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk reported that 14 Ukrainians, including a pregnant soldier, were released in the latest prisoner exchange with Russian forces.
She did not say how many Russians were returned.
Kyiv has admitted that Russian forces have captured a series of villages in the Donbas region.
Russian military expert Alexander Khramchikhin told AFP: “Even if there have been some advances by the Russian army on the ground, it is not very fast.”
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that “special military operation … is proceeding strictly as planned”, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.
More Western weapons will be heading to Ukraine, with US President Joe Biden on Thursday seeking billions of dollars from Congress to boost supplies.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said his country would also “step up” military and humanitarian assistance.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in recent days that its forces had attacked Ukrainian military sites with Western-supplied weapons and ammunition, a claim denied by a senior NATO official. receive.
Russia has warned Western countries against sending more military aid.
“If the US and NATO are really interested in solving the Ukraine crisis, they should first wake up and stop supplying weapons and ammunition to the Kyiv regime,” Lavrov said.
And with Sweden considering joining NATO, defense officials there on Saturday said a Russian reconnaissance plane had violated the country’s northern airspace a day earlier.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
