BREAKING UPDATE: Russian forces storm Azovstal plant in Mariupol after 101 civilians were evacuated

BREAKING: Russian forces storm Azovstal plant in Mariupol where Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are trapped.

The Ukrainian city has been under siege by Putin’s troops since the beginning of the invasion and is now believed to be under Russian control.

UPDATE 4 pm (May 3) – THE UN has revealed that 101 civilians trapped in the Azovstal plant in Mariupol had been evacuated prior to Russian forces storming the facility on Tuesday, May 3.

In a statement from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on May 3, it was revealed that the latest number of civilians were evacuated in a joint operation coordinated by the United Nations (UN) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

They joined around 20 civilians who were successfully evacuated from the steel plant on May 1.

The statement read: “I am pleased and relieved to confirm that 101 civilians have successfully been evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol and other areas in a safe passage operation coordinated by the United Nations (UN) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“The operation started on Friday 29 April and was agreed with the parties to the conflict, following engagements by the UN SecretaryGeneral António Guterres during his recent visits to Moscow and Kyiv,” it continued.

“Thanks to the operation, 101 women, men, children, and older persons could finally leave the bunkers below the Azovstal steelworks and see the daylight after two months.”

This means that there are most likely around 50 civilians left trapped inside the pipes in Mariupol’s Azovstal plant, accompanied by the last Ukrainian soldiers in the city who are now under attack from Russian troops.

ORGINAL 2 pm (May 3) – BREAKING reports on Tuesday, May 3 suggest that Russian forces have begun storming the Azovstal steel plant in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Soldiers and civilians from Ukraine have been trapped in pipes underneath the facility since Putin’s army claimed control of the city.

Ukrainian military commander Andrey Tsaplienko made the claims via his Telegram channel on May 3, noting “Invaders began storming “Azovstal”, right now they are trying to break into the territory of the plant.”

Russian outlets have released videos of the ongoing attack against the Azovstal Plant in Mariupol #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/t19a8geTVh

— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) May 3, 2022

According to Sviatoslav Palamar, a department head of the Azov Regiment, “Russians are trying to storm the territory of Azovstal. Before this, the plant was shelled from aircraft.

“The entire night, we were bombed with air bombs; two civilian women died, and now they are trying to take Azovstal by storm.”

#Ukraine Russians have begun an attack on Azovstal in Mariupol.

This was reported by both Ukrainian and Russian sources. pic.twitter.com/lysq7KgOJb

— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) May 3, 2022

Russian media reports suggest that Ukrainian soldiers holed up in the plant began the attacks and Putin’s army was forced to retaliate.

Vadim Astafyev, the spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said: “They came out of the basements, took up firing positions on the territory and in the buildings of the plant. Now units of the Russian army and the DPR, using artillery and aircraft, are beginning to destroy these firing positions,” as reported by Ria.

The mayor of Mariúpol, Vadim Boichenko, confirmed on May 3 that there are still 200 civilians trapped in the steel plant.

Previously, Ukrainian soldiers trapped with civilians in the Azovstal plant asked for an evacuation like the one in 1940 in Dunkirk.

Operation Dynamo, also known as the miracle of Dunkirk or the Dunkirk evacuation, was an evacuation operation for Allied troops from the French territory in World War II that allowed thousands of soldiers to be saved.

The appeal was made at the time by the commander of the 36th marine brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (FAU), Serhiy Volynsky, one of the nearly 500 Ukrainian soldiers who remain surrounded by Russian forces in the Azovstal steel plant.

“We have been fighting against Russian troops for 62 days, now we are trapped in the Azovstal plant, performing tasks together with units of the Azov regiment and other units that have been trapped due to the hostilities in Mariupol,” Volynsky said in a posted video message via Facebook, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

The commander said that “there are more than 600 wounded men” trapped in the tunnels underneath the plant in “different levels of severity. They really need medical help – there are no facilities, no medicine, no staff to help them,” he added.

He also said that there are injured civilians who are in need of urgent care. “There are more civilians here with us, hundreds of them, dozens of children, there are many disabled people, many elderly people. The situation is very difficult, there are big problems with water, food…” Volynsky said.

He noted that he had already made appeals to world leaders and the Pope to listen to the defenders of Mariupol and to apply the “extraction” procedure, citing Operation Dynamo as an example, as reported by elconfidencial.com.

He added: “Today my main message is to save Mariupol, to carry out the extraction procedure for us. Today is not 1940, it is 2022.

“People will just die here. The wounded will die and the living will die in combat, civilians are dying here, along with us in bunkers, private houses and apartment buildings, where they just get shot… A lot of people have died in the city, the city is practically erased from the face of the earth,” he said.

This is a breaking news story, we will continue to update you as more information is made available.

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