Russian troops separate mother and child evacuated from Azovstal

Alyona Mazurenko – Sunday, 8 May, 22:54

Russian troops separated a woman and her 4-year-old daughter during the most recent evacuation from the Azovstal steelworks.

Source: Azov Regiment, on Telegram

Quote from the Azov Regiment: "During the most recent evacuation from the Azovstal plant, the occupiers separated a woman and her little 4-year-old daughter Alisa.

The mother was detained in a filtration camp in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic."

Details: Ukrainian defenders report that only the child reached the evacuation convoy’s destination in Zaporizhzhia on 8 May, when Ukraine celebrates Mother’s Day.

The mother’s exact location is currently unknown.

Background:

• Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, reported on the evening of 7 May that all civilians remaining in the bunkers of the Azovstal plant were safely evacuated.
• On 1 May, the Ukrainian government, aided by the UN and the ICRC, was able to evacuate some of the civilians who were hiding from Russian forces in the bunkers of Azovstal in Mariupol. The evacuation convoy arrived to Zaporizhzhia on 3 May. In order to enable this operation, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres conducted several meetings with world leaders and has personally visited Moscow and Kyiv to arrange the operation’s details.
• On 4 May, 344 civilians were evacuated to Zaporizhzhia via the "Mariupol corridor." This was the second phase of the evacuation operation facilitated by the UN and the ICRC.
• On 6 May, the Ukrainian government successfully evacuated 50 civilians, including children, from the territory of Azovstal.
• On the evening of 7 May, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that international organisations have joined efforts with the Ukrainian government to organise the evacuation of medics and wounded soldiers from Azovstal in the near future.