Evacuees from Azovstal steel works head to safety

Mother and daughter Dina (left) and Natasha (right) from Mariupol arrive at a registration area for internally displaced people from Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia on Monday. Pic/AFP

The first evacuees from the ruins of Mariupol's Azovstal steel works were expected to reach the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday after cowering in underground bunkers from Russian shelling for weeks. The vast Azovstal industrial complex in the Sea of Azov port city that has been devastated by weeks of Russian shelling has served as a refuge for both civilians and a dwindling number of Ukrainian troops as Moscow has claimed control of Mariupol.

The United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross began an operation coordinated with Ukraine and Russia on April 29 to bring out women, children and the elderly from the steel works.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted around 100 civilians would arrive in Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine on Monday. "For the first time, we had two days of a ceasefire on this territory, and we managed to take out more than 100 civilians - women, children," he said. There was no indication of a plan to pull out the Ukrainian forces holed up there. These could include members of the Azov regiment, national guard, marines, border guards and other units. Russia resumed shelling the complex on Sunday once the evacuation buses left, an aide to the mayor of Mariupol said. Efforts to evacuate more civilians from Mariupol ran into delays on Monday and hundreds of people remained trapped in the plant.

Russian governor reassures

Two explosions took place on Monday in Belgorod, a Russian region bordering Ukraine, but there was no damage or security threat, a top
official said. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said he "wanted to dispel apprehensions among inhabitants of the region that someone or something flew in from the territory of Ukraine". "That is not the case. Our military aviation was performing combat tasks as part of the special military operation," he added, using the official term by which Russia refers to the war in Ukraine.

South Korean embassy resumes work in UKraine

The South Korean ambassador to Ukraine and a part of the diplomatic staff have returned to Kyiv to restart operations from May 2, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said. Seoul evacuated the embassy from Kyiv in late February.

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