The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that Ukrainian soldiers used a ceasefire for evacuations to move to the firing stations.
Ukraine the army says Russian troops have launched an attack on the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. The news agencies AFP and Reuters report on the matter.
Russia itself had previously announced the resumption of bombings at the Azovstal steel plant.
A ceasefire was declared in the area over the weekend, which had allowed civilians to be evacuated from the steel plant.
Russia has conquered the city of Mariupol otherwise completely, but the steel plant area of more than six square kilometers has remained stubbornly under Ukrainian control.
The steel plant is virtually impossible to conquer because the area has a huge underground network of tunnels and shelters built of thick concrete and steel.
International media reports have described that on many floors, a network running underground is like a “fortress” or “an entire city below a city”.
In other respects, Russia has bombed most of the port city on the shores of the Sea of Azov.
Read more: In the middle of the destroyed Mariupol is an underground city inhabited by thousands of Ukrainians – This is known from the Azovstal plant, which was “made to withstand a nuclear war”
Ukraine Deputy Commander of the Azov Military Unit Svjatoslav Palamar said on social media on Tuesday that “there is an ongoing attack on the Azovstal plant site using armored vehicles and armored vehicles”.
Palamar added that Russian troops were trying to “land a large number of infantry on board.”
Civilians were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday before artillery fire and airstrikes began. The International Committee of the Red Cross announced on Tuesday that more than a hundred people evacuated from the Azovstal plant have arrived in Zaporizhia.
Read more: “We didn’t see the sun for a long time,” says an evacuator from the bunker at the Azovstal steel plant
According to Ukrainian authorities, about 200 civilians are still stuck in the steel plant. According to the authorities, there are also children among them.
Russian the Ministry of Defense claimed that the Azov forces and Ukrainian soldiers at the factory took advantage of the ceasefire declared in the area.
“They came out of the basement, took fire stations in the area and factory buildings,” the Russian news agency Ria Novosti quoted the Russian Ministry of Defense as saying.
“Now the units of the Russian army and the Donetsk People’s Republic are beginning to destroy these fire stations,” the ministry said.
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