About 500 civilians have been evacuated since the start of a UN-led rescue mission in Mariupol and its besieged Azovstal steel complex on Friday, according to the director of Ukraine’s presidential office.

“We have managed to evacuate almost 500 civilians,” said Andriy Yermak on Telegram. He stated that Kyiv will “do everything to save all its civilian and military” personnel trapped in the destroyed city, and that evacuations will continue.

Yermak stated in a subsequent Telegram message that “another stage of rescuing our people in Azovstal continues.”

He claimed that Ukraine will “present the results of this later.”

Ukraine’s last soldiers in Mariupol, as well as some residents, have taken refuge in the tunnels of the massive Azovstal facility, which has been encircled by Russian forces for weeks.

Evacuations supervised by the UN and the Red Cross began last weekend.

Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, told AFP that Friday’s evacuations will focus on people still trapped within the facility.

“Today we will concentrate precisely on Azovstal,” she told AFP.

“The operation is starting. We are praying for its success. “

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