Ukraine war: Evacuation of Mariupol civilians under wayon May 1, 2022 at 11:17 pm

One woman describes the desperate conditions faced by those sheltering in a besieged steelworks plant.

An operation to evacuate civilians trapped in a steelworks in the southern city of Mariupol is under way, the UN says.

Ukrainian President Zelensky said a group of about 100 people left and should arrive in the town of Zaporizhzhia on Monday.

Some people were transferred to Russian-held areas of east Ukraine. One woman, Natalia Usmanova, spoke to told reporters that she had endured “two months of darkness” in the industrial complex.

About 1,000 civilians have been sheltering in the vast network of underground tunnels and shelters, and concerns were growing about their conditions amid dwindling food and water supplies.