A Ukrainian military officer said that Russian forces continued their artillery attack on a steel plant in the war-torn port city of Mariupol immediately after today's partial evacuation of civilians who took refuge there several weeks ago.
Ukrainian National Guard brigade commander Denis Shlega said in a televised interview on Sunday that the shells started falling as soon as rescue teams stopped evacuating civilians from the Azovstal ironworks.
Šlega said that at least one more round of evacuation is needed for all civilians to leave the factory. He says dozens of young children are still in bunkers under industrial buildings.
The commander estimates that several hundred civilians are still there, as well as almost 500 wounded soldiers, and there are many dead bodies. That factory is the only part of that city that Russian forces did not occupy.
A video released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Sunday shows people exiting the steel plant, including a small group of women.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Sunday's evacuation from Mariupol marked the start of a "vitally necessary humanitarian corridor."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the fact that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish does not negate Nazi elements in Ukraine, reports Reuters.
Lavrov added that he also believes that Adolf Hitler had "Jewish blood".
He announced that there are many foreign mercenaries and Western officers in western Ukraine, without providing concrete evidence for that claim, saying that Italy is leading initiatives against Russia, which was a surprise at first, but "now they are used to it."
For some declarations by Italian politicians, Lavrov states that they "exceeded the normal diplomatic norm".
Lavrov further stated that the United States of America (USA) "inflamed" Ukrainian hostility towards Russia, as part of the anti-Russian strategy "in the long run".
He said that Zelensky can promote peace if he stops giving criminal orders to his Nazi troops, adding that Russia only wants to ensure the safety of pro-Russian Ukrainians in eastern Ukraine.
Lavrov said that the West stole Russian money by imposing sanctions on Russia, saying that there are no changes in the demand that Russian gas be paid in rubles.
Despite the news that 100 civilians are on their way from the war-damaged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to Ukrainian-controlled territory, one of the commanders there says there are many injured, writes the BBC.
"There are still wounded in the factory. They haven't been evacuated yet, but we hope they will be taken away from here. Their condition is serious, they need adequate treatment, proper nutrition for recovery," Svjatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov regiment, told the BBC.
Problems with food and water remained, he added, but those who remained were "trying to extend what we have as long as possible."
Apart from the hope that the remaining civilians will be evacuated, he said, "we are ready to fight back and we have no intention of surrendering".
He said he hoped that Ukrainian officials and leaders of other countries "will do everything possible to evacuate our garrison from Mariupol."
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Europe "went to war" with Russia through Ukraine, and it is not clear what the military and political goals of this incursion into the world vortex are, while the increasing Russian aggressiveness and the determination of American President Joseph Biden to provide enormous financial support and send weapons to Kiev are pushing Europe to becomes the scene of conflict between two nuclear superpowers.
This is what commentators in the media in the European Union are writing today, and the director of the Italian newspaper "Stampa" Massimo Giannini says: "Putin is not stopping, and we Westerners are now at war, so European governments must clearly present this to their citizens and the public."
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The Reuters agency published photos of some people who were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Reuters reports that these people arrived at a center for temporary accommodation in the village of Bezimene in the Donetsk region.
The plan to evacuate civilians from the Mariupol area outside Azovstal has been postponed until Monday at seven o'clock CET, the Mariupol city council announced, Reuters reports.
Reuters also published photos of pro-Russian forces in the village of Bezimene.
The first group of 100 Ukrainian civilians to be evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol will arrive in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporozhye on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, Reuters reports.
"Thankful to our team! Now they are working together with (the United Nations) to evacuate other civilians from the factory," Zelensky wrote on Twitter.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced today that 80 civilians were evacuated from Azovstal, Russian news agencies reported today, Reuters reports.
"The evacuees who wanted to go to regions controlled by Ukraine were handed over to representatives of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross," the ministry said.
The Russian coup will be "lightning fast" if anyone intervenes in the war and "creates a threat of a strategic nature," Vladimir Putin told top Russian officials in St. Petersburg this week. "We have all the instruments for that," said the Russian president, "and we will not brag. We will use them, if necessary. I want everyone to know that."
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to continue supporting Ukraine with money, aid and weapons, and declared that a pacifist approach to war was outdated.
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The Embassy of Ukraine in Montenegro announced today that "it is appalled and strongly condemns yesterday's event in Budva as part of the International Tourist Carnival "Long Live Love", during which a cynical and reckless attempt to identify the victim - Ukraine and the country of the aggressor - Russia was noticed. .
One person was injured in a fire at a Russian Defense Ministry facility in the southern Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Sunday, Reuters reports.
He said that the local resident suffered minor injuries and that his life was not in danger.
There were no immediate comments from the Ministry of Defense.
Images posted on social media show a large plume of smoke rising above the ground.
Reuters said it could not verify the reports.
Last month, Russia accused Ukraine of a helicopter attack on a fuel depot in Belgorod, for which Kiev denied responsibility, as well as shelling the village and firing missiles at an ammunition depot.
Other Russian regions that share a border with Ukraine have also reported incidents of cross-border shelling since Moscow sent thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a "special military operation".
The United Nations is conducting a "safe passage operation" for civilians from the Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the spokesperson of the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said today, reports Reuters.
The operation began on April 29 and is being coordinated with the International Committee of the Red Cross of Russia and Ukraine, spokesman Saviano told Abreu Reuters.
He said the operation arrived at the steel plant on Saturday morning.
He added that no further details could be disclosed in order not to jeopardize the safety of the evacuees and the convoy.
Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress, Nancy Pelosi, today praised the courage of the Ukrainian people and promised to continue US support for Ukraine until it defeats Russia in statements made after an unannounced visit to Kiev at the head of a congressional delegation.
She and about six other members of the US Congress held a three-hour meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his top aides in Kyiv yesterday.
Earlier today, Ukrainian President Zelensky's office released a video of the visit of the US Congress delegation led by Nancy Pelosi.
The visit was not previously announced. They came to assess Ukraine's needs in the next phase of the war.
Pelosi is the highest-ranking US official to visit Kiev so far, as she is third in line to possibly take over the US presidency.
Speaking to reporters today in Poland, members of the delegation unanimously praised Ukraine's defense so far and offered long-term military, humanitarian and economic aid, promising that the US will stand by Ukraine until it defeats Russia.
"We were proud to deliver to him a message of unity from the US Congress, a message in which the American people show how much they appreciate his leadership and admiration for the people of Ukraine for their courage," Pelosi said in Poland.
The visit came two days after US President Joseph Biden asked Congress for $33 billion to help Ukraine fight Russia.
"This is a time when we either stand up for democracy or allow autocracy to rule," said Congressman Gregory Meeks, D-New York.
The United Nations (UN) is conducting a "safe passage operation" for civilians from the Azovstal factory in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Sunday.
The operation began on April 29 and is being coordinated with the International Committee of the Red Cross of Russia and Ukraine, spokesman Saviano told Abreu Reuters.
He said the operation arrived at the factory on Saturday morning. He added that no further details could be disclosed in order not to endanger the safety of the evacuees and the convoy.
A Russian Defense Ministry facility in the southern Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine caught fire, the governor of the Belgorod region said on Sunday, Reuters reports.
There is no immediate information on damage or casualties, the governor said in a Telegram post.
Images posted on social media show a large cloud of smoke rising above the ground.
Another 14 civilians arrived at the temporary accommodation center after leaving the area around the Azovstal ironworks in Ukraine's Mariupol, Reuters added.
The allegations of the Ministry of Defense of Russia that two groups of civilians were evacuated from the vicinity of Azovstal were also confirmed by a Reuters photojournalist.
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The Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress Nancy Pelosi fought today in Kiev, where she met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and on that occasion, as reported by the BBC, she emphasized that US support for this country will continue "until the fighting is over".
The Ministry of Defense of Russia announced that the army of this country destroyed the runway and hangar with foreign weapons at the military airport near the Ukrainian city of Odessa, reports Reuters.
The ministry also said its air defense systems shot down two Ukrainian Su-24m bombers over the Kharkiv region.
Two groups of civilians left the residential area around the Azovstal steel plant in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said, as reported by Reuters.
The ministry announced that a total of 46 civilians had left the area and that they had been provided with food and shelter, RIA and TASS reported, Reuters reports.
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