Ukraine: Enforcement of Presidential Orders in Azovstal

vice Prime Minister Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk wrote on the messaging app Telegram: “The president’s order has been fulfilled: All women, children and the elderly have been evacuated from Azovstal. Part of the Mariupol humanitarian mission has been completed.” .

In a speech late at night on May 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that about 300 civilians had been evacuated from the Azovstal factory in the city of Mariupol. President Zelensky is actively diplomacy to save the number of soldiers still trapped in the factory.

In addition, Zelensky stressed that the focus will be on evacuating the injured, and at the same time bringing people in other places in Mariupol city and surrounding residential areas to safety.

Civilians evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant stay temporarily in the village of Bezimenoye, near Mariupol, on May 7. Photo: : EPA-EFE

According to a short sharing with Radio CNN From inside the Azovstal factory on the evening of May 7, Mykhailo Vershynin, head of the Mariupol Police Patrol, said that an evacuation of civilians had been carried out without incident. However, he did not detail how many people have left the factory.

Associated Reuters Citing information from pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists, a total of 176 civilians have been evacuated from the factory. Earlier on May 7, the news agency Interfax Russia cited a source from Moscow-backed separatists in the Donetsk region (Ukraine) that 50 more people had been released from the besieged steel factory.

The evacuation from the Azovstal plant began last weekend, coordinated by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Their work was halted this week because of fighting again. The Ukrainian military command said that Russia is still attacking the Azovstal steel factory complex in the city of Mariupol.

The Azovstal steel factory complex with a solid underground system is currently the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol. Photo: Reuters

After weeks of bombing, the city of Mariupol was reduced to rubble and the Azovstal steel plant was largely destroyed. Several groups of civilians have been evacuated from the sprawling complex over the past week amid a pause in fighting.

Regarding the military support package for Ukraine, the UK pledged to provide an additional $1.6 billion. This figure makes Britain’s commitment to aid Ukraine nearly doubled. The additional support for Ukraine will come from the UK government’s emergency fund.

This is seen as Britain’s biggest spending since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government said, without providing specifics.

According to ReutersBritain has sent anti-tank missiles, air defense systems and other weapons to Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said he plans to meet top defense company executives at the end of May to discuss increasing production in response to the war in Ukraine. So far, the UK has granted visas to more than 86,000 Ukrainian refugees.