25 civilians evacuated from Azovstal Plant in Mariupol
A group of 25 civilians was evacuated from the Azovstal steel facility in Mariupol after the UN worked cooperatively with both Russia and Ukraine.
A group of 25 civilians was evacuated from the Azovstal steel facility in Mariupol, where the remnants of the Ukrainian army had been hiding since Russian troops took over the port city, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday.
According to the correspondent, the evacuees included 19 adults and six children.
This comes after the United Nations worked cooperatively with both Russia and Ukraine on the situation at the Azovstal Plant in Mariupol, Spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Wednesday.
"We are working cooperatively with both the authorities in Russia and with the authorities in Ukraine," Haq told a briefing.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova had said there was evidence there were people at Azovstal unrelated to the Ukrainian forces, also dismissing accusations about Russia not allowing people to leave the plant in Mariupol calling them "lies".
The situation at the Azovstal Plant, where the Ukrainian forces remaining in Mariupol are holding out, was among the key topics of Tuesday's talks in Moscow between UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Moreover, all of Mariupol's urban area has been cleared of Ukrainian troops, with more than 4,000 soldiers eliminated over the past day alone, the Russian Defense Ministry said less than two weeks ago.
The city has been a playground for Ukrainian provocations since the war broke out in the country on February 24. The Russian Defense Ministry had revealed that Ukrainian nationalists in Mariupol used about 150 civilians as human shields and opened fire on DPR fighters from behind the civilians' backs.