Zelenskyy’s office announces operation to evacuate people from Azovstal plant

ROMAN ROMANIUK, OLENA ROSCHINA - FRIDAY, 29 APRIL, 2022, 10:30

Ukraine hopes to evacuate civilians sheltering alongside the last fighters defending Mariupol at the Azovstal steelworks on Friday, 29 April.

Source: Reuters, Ukrainska Pravda

Details: The Office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that "an operation is planned to remove civilians from the plant today," but did not provide any details.

According to the information provided to Ukrainska Pravda, the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal was planned for Thursday, 28 April, but the process was halted due to night shelling of the hospital on Azovstal.

According to the interviewed official, after the evacuation of civilians, Ukraine will attempt to evacuate the most seriously wounded people from the plant.

Reminder: after a meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday, 28 April, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated that intensive discussions were underway on the possibility of evacuation from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.

The day before, Guterres visited Moscow and suggested to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the UN coordinate efforts to evacuate people from Mariupol.

On Thursday, UN Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine Osnat Lubrani left for Zaporizhzhia to start preparations for the evacuation from Mariupol.