Hundreds trapped in Mariupol steelworks despite evacuations

Hundreds of people remain trapped in a steel plant in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, despite a group of evacuees leaving on Sunday.

The Azovstal plant, which has become the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the city, has been under intense Russian bombardment for weeks, reports BBC.

A commander at the plant, Denys Shlega, said while some civilians had been evacuated hundreds still remained.

He also said Russian forces had resumed heavy shelling of the area.

"As soon as the last civilian left... shelling from all kinds of weapons began," he told Ukrainian television.

A first group of evacuees from the steelworks are due to arrive in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia later on Monday.

They were evacuated with the support of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross who organised an official convoy.

Russia said some evacuees had been taken to a village controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. But state media reported that they would be free to travel onwards to Ukrainian-held territory if they wanted to.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the news that around 100 people were heading for Zaporizhzhia, which is about 140 miles (230km) north-west of Mariupol.

"Grateful to our team! Now they, together with UN, are working on the evacuation of other civilians from the plant," he wrote on Twitter.