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In Ukraine's war-battered Mariupol, major European steel plant damaged: 5 points
Mariupol, a key connection to the Black Sea, has been a target since the start of the war on February 24, when Russian president Vladimir Putin launched what he calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine.
The struggle for survival in war-battered city of Mariupol has left thousands seeking refuge as Russian shelling continues for another day. The strategic port city - where power, water and other basic facilities are no longer in reach, according to local authorities - is now witnessing fighting in the streets, reports said. The Russian troops have pushed deeper into the besieged city.
A major steel plant was shut down, and local authorities pleaded for more Western help. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called the siege of Mariupol an unforgettable ‘war crime" as Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered Day 25.
Here are five updates on Mariupol's struggle:
1. One of Europe's biggest iron and steel plants, Azovstal, has been badly damaged as the Russian forces lay siege to the city, news agency AFP reported quoting local officials. Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko posted a video of explosions with thick columns of grey and black smoke rising from the buildings. "One of the biggest metallurgic plants in Europe was destroyed. The economic losses for Ukraine are huge. The environment is devastated," she tweeted.
2. Zelenskyy said the siege of Mariupol by Russian forces will go down in history as a war crime. "To do this to a peaceful city... is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come," news agency Reuters quoted him as saying.
3. The city council of Ukraine's Mariupol said Russian forces forcefully deported several thousand people from the besieged city last week, according to Reuters. “The occupiers are forcing people to leave Ukraine for Russian territory,” the council's statement said. “The occupiers illegally took people out of the Levoberezhny district and a shelter in the building of a sports club, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from constant bombing,” he added
4. Evacuations from Ukraine's besieged cities proceeded Saturday along eight of 10 humanitarian corridors, AP reported quoting Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. A total of 6,623 people have been evacuated so far, including 4,128 from Mariupol who were taken northwest to Zaporizhzhya.
5. Russian troops halted a convoy of buses travelling to evacuate residents of Mariupol, Ukrainian media outlet, Kyiv Independent, reported quoting Berdyansk city council. As per the officials, the evacuation buses were not allowed to enter the city and the civilians were stopped by the Russian troops.
Over 4 Lakh people have been reported trapped in Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, for more than two weeks, sheltering from heavy bombardment that has severed central supplies of electricity, heating and water, according to local authorities.
Mariupol, a key connection to the Black Sea, has been a target since the start of the war on February 24, when Russian president Vladimir Putin launched what he calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Ukraine and the West say Putin launched an unprovoked war of aggression.
As Russia has sought to seize most of Ukraine's southern coast, Mariupol has assumed great importance, lying between the Russian-annexed peninsula of Crimea to the west and the Donetsk region to the east, which is partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
