Attacks on Mariupol steelworks intensify as Russia looks to end standoff; Ukraine's Donbas in focus
Having re-focused its attacks away from northern Ukraine and the capital Kyiv, Russian forces are now looking to take full control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine in order to create a land bridge from Russia to Crimea, territory it annexed in 2014.
Another 344 civilians were evacuated from the city and suburbs of the southern port city of Mariupol and are on the way to the Ukraine-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, PresidentPentagon spokesman John Kirby said the Russians have made uneven progress in the Donbas region, following weeks of resupply and repositioning efforts. Nonetheless, the U.S. and its allies are rushing to send additional security assistance amid an intensified Russian assault in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Hundreds of civilians, including the elderly and children, have been sheltering in the network of underground tunnels and bunkers underneath the steelworks. After a number of failed attempts to evacuate civilians, several hundred have been evacuated to the relative safety of the Ukrainian-controlled Zaporhizhia in recent days.
A woman feeds her baby after being evacuated from Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant to Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on May 3.that Russian ground operations are focusing on the eastern part of Ukraine, but missile strikes continue across the country because Moscow wants to disrupt the Ukrainians' ability to resupply their troops in the east.
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