Civilians being evacuated from Mariupol steel facility, Zelensky announces

Civilians are being evacuated on Sunday from a steel plant near Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, according to reports. Officials aim to bring some 1,000 people to safety from the facility. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the move on Twitter, saying that the besieged civilians were on the way to Zaporizhzhia, a city on the Dnieper River.

“Tomorrow we’ll meet them in Zaporizhzhia. Grateful to our team!” Zelensky wrote on Sunday. “Now they, together with [United Nations] are working on the evacuation of other civilians from the plant.”

Russian forces have hit Mariupol with artillery and bombs, leaving the city in rubble, and killing thousands. Moscow declared victory in Mariupol, while soldiers and civilians remained inside the Azovstal steel plant.