Joseph Campbell

ZAPORIZHZHIA/MARIUPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) -Dozens of evacuees who cowered for weeks in the ruins of a steel works in Russian-occupied Mariupol reached the safety of Kyiv-controlled Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday where hospitals were ready to treat people for anything from burns to malnutrition.

Vadym Borichenko, Mariupol mayor, said that over 200 civilians remained in Azovstal steel plants in Sea of Azov. The Azovstal plant is located near the Sea of Azov port. It has been destroyed by Russian bombardment. About 100,000 civilians were also still present in Mariupol.

Osnat Lublini, U.N. humanitarian coordinator, for Ukraine said, “Thanks to this operation, 101 women and men and children as well as older people could finally leave the bunkers under the Azovstal Steelworks and see daylight after two months.”

On April 29, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations coordinated a five day operation to remove children, women and the aged from the steelworks.

As Moscow occupied Mariupol and devastated the city, the sprawling Azovstal Industrial Complex became a haven for civilians and Ukrainian fighters.

In preparation for the arrival and support of volunteers for hospitals, Dr Dorit Niezan (World Health Organization, WHO) Incident Manager, for Ukraine said that the hospital was stocked.

“We are ready for… burns, fractures and wounds, as well as diarrhoea, respiratory infections. Also, we are ready to check for children who are malnourished or pregnant. “We are all present, and the health system has everything we need,” she stated.

According to her, some had made their way from nearby villages and arrived in Mariupol recently with minor injuries. However, mental health is the main issue.

When they received their family, many cried. She described it as very touching.

TEARS IN MARIUPOL

Tatyana Bushlanova (64 years old) is so used Russian bombardments in Mariupol that she doesn’t even flinch from the sound of them exploding.

You wake up every morning crying. Evenings are hard. You cry in the evening. I don’t know where to go. Everything is destroyed. “Here, they’re sitting there with little kids with little,” Bushlanova said Monday while shedding tears on a bench near a burning apartment block.

“It doesn’t end. It doesn’t stop. There is no roof and there aren’t windows. All things are very complicated.”

On Monday, Russian troops pounded steelworks with mortar shelling. Witnesses from Reuters said they used a multiple-launcher rocket launcher called “Grad”. The plant produced thick black smoke.