Dozens of civilians have left a besieged steel plant in the city of Mariupol, Russia said yesterday, as US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi voiced support for Ukraine’s “fight for freedom” during a visit to Kyiv.
Forty-six civilians left in two groups on Saturday from the area around the Azovstal plant — the last holdout of Ukrainian forces in the city, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
The development raised hopes of a larger, long-awaited evacuation from the battered plant, where local fighters say they and hundreds of civilians are still sheltering.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video on Saturday evening that Kyiv was “doing everything to ensure that the evacuation mission from Mariupol is carried out.”
Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, said on Telegram yesterday that there would be “radio silence on the evacuation situation.”
Thousands have been killed and millions displaced since Russia began its invasion on Feb. 24. Western powers have rushed to send military aid to Ukraine and imposed heavy sanctions on Russia.
Photo: Reuters
“We are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom... Our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done,” Pelosi said in a meeting with Zelenskiy.
Pelosi also said in a statement that “additional American support is on the way,” following US President Joe Biden’s announcement last week of a US$33 billion arms and support package.
The conflict is now concentrated in the east and south of Ukraine, although there have been Russian missile strikes across the country, mainly targeting infrastructure and supply lines.
On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities said a Russian missile strike had destroyed the runway of Odessa International Airport in the southwest of the country.
“Near Odessa, high-precision Onyx missiles destroyed a hangar at a military aerodrome housing weapons and ammunition from the US and European countries, and the runway was also destroyed,” the Russian defense ministry said yesterday.
Russia has moved to solidify its grip on areas it controls, and yesterday introduced the Russian ruble in the region of Kherson — initially to be used alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia.
Zelenskiy said he spoke on Saturday with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “on defense support for Ukraine and other efforts necessary to end the war.”
“I informed Boris about the current situation on the battlefield in the areas of active clashes, and in detail about the situation in our east, in Mariupol, in the south of the country,” he said. “All the leaders of the free world know what Russia has done to Mariupol, and Russia will not go unpunished for this.”
Meanwhile, the Swedish Armed Forces said on Saturday that a Russian AN-30 propeller plane late on Friday briefly entered Swedish airspace near the island of Bornholm.
Sweden and Finland are considering NATO membership following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Moscow has said that such a move would have consequences, without giving specifics.
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