Russian Defense Ministry says Ukrainian military at Azovstal take advantage of cease-fire

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces holed up at the Azovstal steel plant in the Black Sea port city of Mariupol used a cease-fire to take up firing positions.

"A cease-fire was announced for the safe evacuation of civilians. The Azovists (members of the Azov battalion), the Ukrainian Armed Forces who are on the territory of the Azovstal plant, left the basements and took up firing positions on the territory and inside the plant's buildings," ministry's representative Vadim Astafyev told reporters in Mariupol.

He added that several hundred civilians were previously evacuated from the territory of the metallurgical plant and from nearby neighborhoods but then the cease-fire was violated by the Ukrainian side.

On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that over 80 civilians, including women and children, left the territory of Azovstal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the information. He said about 100 people who left the plant are heading to the Zaporizhzhia region.

At least 3,193 civilians have been killed and 3,353 others injured in Ukraine since the war with Russia began on Feb. 24, according to UN estimates. The true toll is feared to be much higher.

More than 5.5 million people have fled to other countries, with some 7.7 million people internally displaced, data from the UN refugee agency shows.