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world news Diasabra 30 aPriL 2022

UN works to broker civilian evacuation from Mariupol

(AP) — The United Na- as life in Kyiv seemed to be ties or damage. ditions under the Russians, basement was shaking from
tions doggedly sought getting back a little closer to with little water or food and the explosions. We were
to broker an evacuation normal, with cafes and other Fighting could be heard from no electricity. screaming, we were crying
of civilians from the in- businesses starting to reopen Kramatorsk to Sloviansk, two and we were praying to God,”
creasingly hellish ruins of and growing numbers of cities about 18 kilometers (11 “We were hiding in the base- said Ludmila Bocharnikova.
Mariupol on Friday, while people going out to enjoy the miles) apart in the Donbas. ment. It was horror. The
Ukraine accused Russia of arrival of spring. Columns of smoke rose from
showing its contempt for the Sloviansk area and neigh-
the world organization by Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrai- boring cities. At least one per-
bombing Kyiv while the nian political analyst and head son was reported wounded in
U.N. leader was visiting of the Kyiv-based Penta Cen- the shelling.
the capital. ter think tank, said the attack
carried a message: “Russia is The governor of Russia’s
The mayor of Mariupol sending a clear signal about Kursk region said that a bor-
said the situation inside the its intention to continue the der post came under mor-
steel plant that has become war despite the international tar attack from Ukraine and
the southern port city’s pressure.” that Russian border forces
last stronghold is dire, and returned fire. He said there
citizens are “begging to get Getting a full picture of the were no casualties on the
saved.” Mayor Vadym Boi- unfolding battle in the east Russian side.
chenko added: “There, it’s has been difficult because air-
not a matter of days. It’s a strikes and artillery barrages In the village of Ruska Loza-
matter of hours.” have made it extremely dan- va, near Kharkiv, hundreds of
gerous for reporters to move people were evacuated after
Ukraine’s forces, meanwhile, around. Both Ukraine and Ukrainian forces retook the
fought to hold off Russian the Moscow-backed rebels city from Russian occupi-
attempts to advance in the fighting in the east also have ers, according to the regional
south and east, where the introduced tight restrictions governor. Those who fled to
Kremlin is seeking to capture on reporting from the com- Kharkiv spoke of dire con-
the country’s industrial Don- bat zone.
bas region. Artillery fire, si-
rens and explosions could be But so far, Russia’s troops and
heard in some cities. the separatist forces appear to
have made only minor gains.
On Thursday, Moscow’s
forces launched a missile at- In the bombed-out city of
tack on a residential high-rise Mariupol, around 100,000
and another building in Kyiv, people were believed trapped
shattering weeks of relative with little food, water or
calm in the capital following medicine. An estimated 2,000
Russia’s retreat from the re- Ukrainian defenders and
gion early this month. 1,000 civilians were holed up
at the Azovstal steel plant.
U.S.-funded broadcaster Ra-
dio Free Europe/Radio Lib- The Soviet-era steel plant has
erty said one of its journalists, a vast underground network
Vira Hyrych, was killed in the of bunkers able to withstand
bombardment. Ten people airstrikes. But the situation
were wounded, one of them has grown more dire after the
losing a leg, authorities said. Russians dropped “bunker
busters” and other bombs.
The missile strike came bare-
ly an hour after Ukrainian “Locals who manage to leave
President Volodymyr Zelen- Mariupol say it is hell, but
skyy held a news conference when they leave this fortress,
with U.N. Secretary-General they say it is worse,” said Boi-
António Guterres. chenko, the mayor.
“This says a lot about Russia’s U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq
true attitude toward global said the organization was ne-
institutions, about attempts gotiating with authorities in
of the Russian leadership to Moscow and Kyiv to create
humiliate the U.N. and ev- safe passage.
erything the organization
represents,” Zelenskyy said. Ukraine has blamed the fail-
ure of numerous previous
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko evacuation attempts on con-
said the attack was Russian tinued Russian shelling.
President Vladimir Putin’s
way of giving “his middle fin- This time, “we hope there’s
ger” to Guterres. a slight touch of humanity in
the enemy,” the mayor said.
In an apparent reference to
the Kyiv bombing, Russia’s Also Friday, two towns in
military said it had destroyed central Ukraine’s Dnipro-
“production buildings” at the petrovsk region were hit by
Artem defense factory. Russian rockets, the regional
governor said. There was no
The missile strike came just immediate word on casual-