The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-02)

A12 EZ RE THEWASHINGTONPOST.MONDAY,MAY 2 , 2022

Affairs, told TheWashington Post

on Sunday afternoonthatefforts

to getpeopleout of the industrial

complexwere “stillontrack and

ongoing.”

Abreu described theoperation

as “extremelycomplexand risky.”

He declinedtooffer moredetails

aboutthe number of civilianssuc-

cessfully evacuated because,he

said,itcould“jeopardizetheoper-

ation”and put the safetyofcivil-

iansand U.N. workers at risk.

On Sunday, theUkrainianFor-

eign Ministrypraised theefforts

of thegroupsinvolvedinthe evac-

uation but emphasized thathun-

dreds of civilians, including doz-

ens of children, werestill waiting

to be rescued fromthe steel plant.

“The evacuationgives achance

to civilians, in particular mothers

and children, to restore normal

lives and receive proper treat-

ment,”theministrywroteonTwit-

ter.

In addition, hundreds of

woundedUkrainian soldiersin

urgent needof lifesavingtreat-

mentalso remainedatthe plant,

the ministry noted, callingfor

those troops to also be allowed to

immediately evacuate “in accor-

dancewithinternationalhumani-

tarian law.”

TheInternational Committee

of the Red Cross,whichalso con-

firmedSundaythatthe rescueop-

eration was underway, saidina

statement to ThePostthat“no

moredetails can be shareduntil

the situation allows.”

Accordingto the BBC,the com-

manderof anational guardbri-

gade,Denis Schlega, said at least

500 wounded soldiers and several

hundredcivilians are inside the

plant. Schlega pleadedfor their

evacuation,aswell as the removal

of the bodiesof deceased fighters.

“Weinitiated this evacuation.

We want around 500 more

wounded soldiersto leavethis

area,and for our deadboys to be

pickedup.We’regoingtostayhere

and continueour mission until

theend,” the commandersaid.

TheMariupol CityCouncil said

in astatement on Telegram that,

duetosecurityreasons,theevacu-

ation of civiliansfromother parts

of Mariupol was postponed until

Mondaymorning.Residents of

Mariupolhadearlierbeenadvised

to trytoevacuateSundayafter-

noon, with mayoraladviser Petro

Andryushchenkocallingit“one of

the lastreal chances to leave the

city.”

In astatementsent to ThePost

on Sunday, the United Nations

saiditwillcontinue to pushfor

safeevacuationsforallcivilians—

not only thoseinside the plant—

who wish to leave Mariupol. Mari-

upolhasseen someof the worst

devastation since thewar began.

Ukrainianauthorities have esti-

mated thatatleast20,000people

have been killedand morethan

300,000 of thecity’s450,000 resi-

dents have fled.

“Whatcouldbe Russia’sstra-

tegicsuccess in thiswar?Honest-

ly,Idonot know,”Zelenskysaidin

his statement Sunday. “The ru-

ined lives of people and the

burned or stolen propertywill

givenothingtoRussia.Itwill only

increase the toxicity of theRus-

sianstateandthenumberofthose

in theworld whowill work to

isolate Russia.”

LateshiaBeachum,AnnabelleTimsit,

BryanPietsch,AdamTaylor, Rachel

PannettandDouglasMacMillan

contributedto thisreport.

side with Ukrainian PresidentVo-
lodymyr ZelenskyonSaturday,
photos and videosreleasedafter-
wardshowed.Pelosi,cladinablue
suitreminiscentof the coloron
the Ukrainianflag,greeted Zel-
enskyand othertop Ukrainian
officialsonanempty Kyiv street.
Pelosi vowedthatthe United
States would supportUkraine
“until thefight is done.”Inastate-
ment, shedescribedthe trip as a
“solemnopportunity and extraor-
dinaryhonor.”
Zelenskythanked theUnited
States for “helpingto protectthe
sovereigntyand territorialinteg-
rity” of Ukraineand for the show
of solidarity.
Other members of theDemo-
cratic House delegationincluded
Intelligence Committee Chair-
manAdamB.Schiff (Calif.), For-
eign Affairs Committee Chairman
GregoryW.Meeks (N.Y.), Rules
Committee Chairman Jim
McGovern (Mass.),and Reps. Bar-
baraLee (Calif.),William R. Keat-
ing (Mass.)and Jason Crow
(Colo.).
“I am grateful to you for this
signal,thissignalofstrong sup-
portfor Ukraine, support of the
U.S., supportofthe people of the
U.S., of Congress, the supportof
twohouses[of Congress] and two
parties,”Zelensky told Pelosi dur-
ing the meeting.
Duringanews conference in
Polandon Sunday, Keating said
the lawmakers have heard“ap-
palling”claimsaboutthebrutality
facedby Ukrainian people during
the war,including accountsof
rape and humantraffickingat the
handsof Russiansoldiers.
Pelosi called on Congress to ap-
prove PresidentBiden’s request
for an additional $33 billionin
military, economic and humani-
tarian aid to Ukraine, and she
urged the United States and its
alliesnot to backdownfromRus-
sian President Vladimir Putin,
whomshe called abully.
“Donot be bullied by bullies. If
they’re makingthreats,you can-
not backdown.That’s my viewof
it,”Pelosi said. “You cannotfold to
abully.”
Bidenhas saiditiscrucialfor
Congressto swiftly approve the
newfunding request, whichin-
cludes $20 billionin militaryas-
sistance,$8.5 billion to bolster
Ukraine’s economy and $3 billion

UKRAINEFROMA

Warin Ukraine

oftunnelsthathaveprovidedshel-

ter to civiliansand troops alike.

Theplant was onceone of the

largest metallurgicalfactoriesin

Europe, pumping out morethan

4million tons of crudesteel annu-

ally and employing tens of thou-

sandsof people.

Ukrainianofficials saythatup

to 1,000 civilianshave also sought

refugeatthe Azovstal plantsince

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine be-

gan morethantwo monthsago.

Forweeks,calls for Russiatoopen

humanitariancorridorsto allow

safepassageforciviliansoutofthe

steelplant,aswellasotherpartsof

Mariupol, have beenunsuccess-

ful.

But on Fridaynight, aU.N.con-

voy left the cityofZaporizhzhia,

about140milesnorthwestofMar-

iupol, and arrivedat the plant

Saturdaymorningtobeginthe

evacuations.Agroupof20to

womenand childrenwereevacu-

ated Saturday underacease-fire

agreement.

Zelenskyconfirmed Sunday

thatthe firstgroup of morethan

100 peoplefromthe plantwas

headed to “Ukrainian-controlled”

territory. He said he wouldmeet

withtheevacueesinZaporizhzhia

on Monday.

It wasthe firsttime since Rus-

sia’s invasionbegan,headded,

thattherehad beena“real cease-

fire on thisterritory” to allowa

humanitariancorridortowork.

Zelenskysaid he hopedthe evacu-

ationfromtheAzovstalsteelplant

wouldcontinue on Monday, start-

ing at 8a.m.local time.

Thesafe-passageoperation is

beingcarried outincollaboration

with the International Committee

of the Red Crossand in coordina-

tionwithUkrainian andRussian

officials. Saviano Abreu, aspokes-

manfor theU.N.Office for the

Coordination of Humanitarian

daywhere more peoplewill be

killedand aday wheretheycould

lose this war.Ithink they can win

it. But we have to give themthe

tools todoit.”

TheWhite House confirmed

SundaythatBidenspokewith

Pelosi afterher visit to Ukraine,

butitdidnotprovidedetailsabout

their conversation.On Tuesday,

Bidenis scheduledto travel to

Alabamato tour aLockheed Mar-

tin facilitythatmanufacturesJav-

elin antitank missilesand other

weapons theUnitedStates has

beensending to Ukraine.

On “This Week,”Oksana

Markarova, the Ukrainian ambas-

sadortothe UnitedStates, said

Pelosi’smeeting with Zelenskyin

Kyiv was yetanothersignof“very,

verystrong support” for Ukraine

in the face of Russian aggression

—and restated, as she hasfor

weeks,thatUkrainianswouldnot

surrender.

“Asthiswarwas started byRus-

sians, it has to be ended by Rus-

sians.Andwereallyhopethatthey

willmaketheir decisionfaster,”

Markarovasaid. She added: “We

needto restore the territorialin-

tegrity and the sovereignty of our

country.And we oweit to the

peoplewhobravely defendour

country andtothe peoplewho’ve

fallen defendingour country.”

TheUnitedNationsconfirmed

Sundaythatanoperation to evac-

uate civilians from theAzovstal

steelplantinMariupolwasunder-

way. Thousands of Ukrainian

troops have beenhunkered down

in the factory, refusingtosurren-

der despiteincreasinglydire con-

ditions and Russian airstrikes

that have pummeled the complex

in recentdays.

Newsatelliteimages shownu-

merous buildings flattenedat the

sprawlingcomplex,whichalso

has avastunderground network

er thetwo packages will be linked.

“OurMembers wereproudto

deliver the message[to Ukrainian

officials] thatadditional Ameri-

can support is on the way,aswe

work to transform President

Biden’s strong funding request

into alegislative package,”Pelosi

saidinastatementafterhertripto

Ukraine and Poland.

Rep.Michael McCaul(R-Tex.),

the top Republicanon the House

ForeignAffairs Committee, noted

the Houseisnot in session this

weekand said the next twoto

threeweekswill be “pivotal”for

the war in Ukraine.

“I don’t thinkwe have alot of

timeto waste in Congress,”Mc-

CaulsaidonABC’s “This Week.”

He added: “Everyday we don’t

send [Ukraine] moreweapons is a

in humanitarianaid.

“The costofthisfight is not

cheap, but caving to aggression is

going to be morecostly if we allow

ittohappen,”BidensaidThursday

as he announcedthe spending

package.

BothPelosi andLee, amember

oftheHouseAppropriationsCom-

mittee, saidCongress wouldmove

forwardon theUkraine security

package“soon”butdidnotspecify

atimeline.Lee saidthatlawmak-

ers are in the processofwriting

the bill and thatnegotiations on it

“aretakingplaceaswespeak.”

Pelosi acknowledged thatCon-

gresswas also simultaneously

working on legislation foraddi-

tional funding forthe U.S. corona-

virus pandemic response, and she

saiditremainedtobeseenwheth-

U.N. evacuating civilians in Mariupol

ALEXANDERERMOCHENKO/REUTERS

AwomansmokesbesideabusbeforeleavingacenterforevacueesinBezimenneintheDonetskregionofeasternUkraineonSunday.

Annexed

by Russia

in 2014

Kyiv

Odessa

Mykolaiv

Izyum

Dnipro

Kherson

Crimea

Sumy

Chernihiv

Kharkiv

Russian-held Mariupol

areas

andtroop

movement

Black

Sea

Seaof

Azov

UKRAINE

RUSSIA

BELARUS

M

O

L

D

O

V

A

Separatist-

controlled

area

Separatist-

controlled

area

Zaporizhzhia

Controlareas as of May1,3p.m.Eastern time

Sources:Institutefor theStudyof War, AmericanEnterpriseInstitute’sCriticalThreatsProject,Postreporting THEWASHINGTONPOST

100 MILES

TheUnitedNations

resumeda“safepassage”

operationSundayto

evacuateciviliansfroma

steelplantinMariupol.

TheUnitedNations

resumeda“safepassage”

operationSundayto

evacuateciviliansfroma

steelplantinMariupol.

Fightingcontinuesin

Kharkiv,withlocalofficials

suggestingthatRussia

mayfinallybereducingthe

intensityof itsairstrikes

andartilleryattacks.

Fightingcontinuesin

Kharkiv,withlocalofficials

suggestingthatRussia

mayfinallybereducingthe

intensityof itsairstrikes

andartilleryattacks.

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