The city of Mariupol is still under attack according to Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak. The Azovstal steel plant remains to be encircled by Russian troops and is still under heavy bombardment. The steel plant is currently sheltering both civilians and Ukrainian troops.
During his Easter message, Ukrainian Capt. Svyatoslav Palamar said, “The enemy continues to drop aerial bombs, ships fire artillery, cannons fire, enemy tanks continue to hit, infantry tries to assault.”
Troops of Azov, along with other Ukrainian forces, continue to hold out in the besieged Azovstal factory, which was originally formed as a nationalist volunteer battalion but was later folded into the Ukrainian military. The situation at the plant is “close to a catastrophe,” according to officials. The plant’s owner, Yuriy Ryzhenkov.
Officials in Ukraine predict that 100,000 inhabitants may need to be evacuated from the damaged city. Civilians have been sheltering in the factory for weeks, and supplies are running low. Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, reported on Thursday that “approximately 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded militaries” were present.
“Immediate and unhindered humanitarian access” to Mariupol is “urgently needed,” according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Sunday that it is “very disturbed” by the situation in Mariupol, where the population is in desperate need of assistance. ICRC has undertaken multiple attempts to evacuate inhabitants from the city, claiming that “every hour that passes has a horrible human cost.” According to the Ukrainian Parliament’s Human Rights Commissioner, Russia has deported residents from Mariupol to Primorsky Krai in Russia’s the Far East. Volunteers told Lyudmyla Denisova that on April 21, a train carrying 308 Ukrainians from Mariupol arrived in the city of Nakhodka, including women with young children, individuals with disabilities, and students.