The city of Mariupol in Ukraine has been plagued by Russian attacks over the past three months. It has been one of the target cities for the Russian military as it completes a land bridge between the Russian-controlled island of Crimea and the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in Eastern Ukraine, allowing them to fully utilize the deep-sea ports of Crimea and its other resources. The Russian military has succeeded in capturing most of the city, with the majority of the Ukrainian forces retreating to the Azovstal Iron and Steel Complex, which is heavily fortified and guarded. The Azovstal bunkers were built during the Stalin Era in the Soviet Union, and consist of many tunnels and bunker areas, according to Reuters.
Last week, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited Kyiv, and met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, and was apparently discussing plans to launch an evacuation mission to assist all who have been fortified at the Azovstal bunkers, and have set up an accommodation center nearby to assist both Ukrainian civilians and soldiers. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was also involved in this mission, assisting in particular from the humanitarian standpoint. This collaboration effort enabled hundreds of Ukrainians to safely leave the Russian-controlled city of Mariupol, and arrive in the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia. President Zelenskyy welcomed this move and has suggested that evacuation efforts can go beyond the Azovstal complex by assisting others living in the city of Mariupol to evacuate.
Since the evacuation is still ongoing at the time of writing, the UN and the ICRC have declined to give detailed plans of action in order to not compromise the mission. However, this operation could be a sign that evacuations in Russian-held regions might continue if these missions can be conducted in a safe and controlled manner.
The current crisis in Ukraine is still ongoing, even though many other events in the Western world have overshadowed the current war that is still influencing so many people around the world. This conflict has led to casualties on both sides and has broken up families, with Ukrainian children, women, and the elderly fleeing their country to seek shelter in the West. The Organization for World Peace calls for a continuation of these evacuations and a diplomatic solution to the current war.
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