Pro-Russian forces say 50 more people evacuated from besieged Ukraine plant

Today, May 7, 50 people were evacuated from the territory of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol

Pro-Russian forces said 50 more people were evacuated on Saturday from the besieged Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, where scores of civilians have been trapped for weeks alongside Ukrainian fighters holed up in the Soviet-era plant, Qazet.az reports.

The territorial defence headquarters of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said on Telegram that a total of 176 civilians had now been evacuated from the steelworks.

About 50 civilians had been moved on Friday from the sprawling, bombed-out plant to a reception centre in nearby Bezimenne, in the separatist DPR, whose forces are fighting alongside Russian troops to expand their control of large parts of eastern Ukraine. Dozens of civilians were also evacuated last weekend.

"Today, May 7, 50 people were evacuated from the territory of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol," the DPR said.

Mariupol has endured the most destructive bombardment of the 10-week-old war. The plant is the last part of the city - a strategic southern port on the Azov Sea - still in the hands of Ukrainian fighters. Scores of civilians have been trapped for weeks alongside them in the plant with little food, water or medicine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a late-night video address on Friday that Ukraine was working on a diplomatic effort to save defenders barricaded inside the steelworks. It was unclear how many Ukrainian fighters remained there.