A new UN convoy is on its way to the Azovstal industrial complex, the last Ukrainian resistance enclave in the city of Mariupol, to evacuate civilians stranded there, a UN spokesman said Thursday.
“Today, as we speak, by tomorrow morning a convoy is heading to Azovstal with the hope that the remaining civilians, who have been trapped in this gloomy hell for several weeks and months, will be evacuated and return safely,” said the Assistant Secretary General of the UN . humanitarian affairs Martin Griffiths said during a conference in Warsaw.
The convoy represents a fresh effort to evacuate civilians after the United Nations and the Red Cross said on Tuesday that 101 civilians had been dragged out of tunnels at the Azovstal steel plant in the strategically important southern port city of Mariupol.
It was the first evacuation of civilians from this large industrial complex, where Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were trapped for several weeks while Russian troops surrounded the city and bombarded it with artillery.
They were transferred to the city of Zaporozhye, which is under the control of Kyiv.
The joint operation of the United Nations and the Red Cross lasted five days and took place after the visit of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Moscow and Kyiv.
“We are trying to continue this process, but it reminds us of the enormous difficulties we are facing,” Griffiths added on Thursday.
