Hundreds of people were trapped in the Azovstal steel complex, the last stronghold of resistance to the Russian siege, as the battered Ukrainian port city of Mariupol faced delays on Monday.
Although a local official had previously stated that Russian soldiers had resumed shelling the factory on Sunday after a convoy of buses had left, it was unclear what was causing the hold-up.
As the war enters its third month, the condition of people besieged in Mariupol, which was bombarded for weeks before Russian forces took control of the majority of the city, has become a source of humanitarian concern.
Thousands are reported to have died, and those still trapped in the besieged Azovstal complex, which has given sanctuary through its network of bunkers and tunnels, are running out of water, food, and medicine.
Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, said ‘the situation has become a sign of a true humanitarian crisis.’
- On other fronts, a regional governor reported that towns in eastern Ukraine were under heavy Russian bombing. According to authorities, a Russian missile strike destroyed a significant bridge crossing the Dniester estuary just west of the port city of Odesa in southwest Ukraine.
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