Zaporizhzhia, May 3 (AP) The first convoy of civilians to escape a decimated steel plant in Mariupol reached relative safety in a Ukrainian-controlled city on Tuesday.

The United Nations said 127 civilians evacuated from the plant and a nearby town arrived in Zaporizhzhia.

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Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told reporters Tuesday that a few hundred civilians remain at the plant.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian defenders of the plant said Russian forces have started to storm the the last pocket of resistance.

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The move comes almost two weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military not to storm the plant, but rather block it off.

The deputy commander of the Azov Regiment that is holed up in the Azovstal steel plant confirmed that Russian forces have started to storm the plant on Tuesday.

Asked about reports in Ukrainian media that the plant was being stormed, Sviatoslav Palamar said: “It is true.”

Earlier Tuesday, Mariupol patrol police chief Mykhailo Vershinin was quoted by Ukrainian television as saying that the Russian military “have started to storm the plant in several places.”

Denys Shlega, a commander of a brigade of Ukraine's National Guard also at Azovstal, also said “the enemy is trying to storm the Azovstal plant with significant forces using armoured vehicles." (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)