2022 in pictures: the evacuation of Mariupol and Azovstal steelworks

The war in Ukraine has marked 2022 like no other event this year. In May of 2022, the world watched as hundreds of people who were trapped in the bombed-out Ukrainian city of Mariupol were evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks.

The civilians of Mariupol were the focus of humanitarian concern as the Russian war on Ukraine entered its third month.

The civilians stuck in Mariupol endured inhumane, unbearable conditions, trapped with scarce access to food, water, electricity, and medicine.

Per the BBC, it was estimated there were as many as 100,000 people still stuck in Mariupol in May of 2022.

Of those trapped in Mariupol around 2,000 were estimated to be Ukrainian fighters holed up under the only part of the city not occupied by Russians, Azostel steelworks, a Soviet-era steel plant.

Despite delays, the first group of Mariupol evacuees arrived in the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia, 230km from Mariupol, on May 23, 2022.

Hryhorii, a member of the Ukrainian military kissed his wife Oksana after being reunited in Zaporizhzhia.

Most in the group of evacuees were residents of Mariupol and the surrounding area, not from the Azovstal steelworks.

The Ukrainian Azov regiment shared the footage online of them helping civilians through the ruins of what remained of the steelworks and onto a bus. However, many hundreds remained trapped inside the factory.

Photo: Twitter

Aljazeera reported that an older evacuee traveling with young children spoke of the lack of food, “Children always wanted to eat. You know, adults can wait.”

Russia's agreement to accept a temporary ceasefire to evacuate the residents of Mariupol is surprising, as Moscow has had little concern for the well-being of civilians during the war in Ukraine.

Moscow had previously made contradictory statements. For example, the week before, the Kremlin said it would not storm the steelworks, but the bombings did not stop.

Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to the Mariupol mayor, told Ukrainian television, "Yesterday, as soon as the buses left Azovstal with the evacuees, new shelling began immediately."

On April 30, 2022, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross worked together with Ukraine and Russia in an operation to remove women, children, and the elderly from the steelworks.

According to Russian news reports, the Russian army states that 126 people evacuated Mariupol in safe convoys throughout on May 21 and 22 , both from the steelworks and other areas close by controlled by Donetsk separatists.

Russia says that 57 people chose to stay in the area, while those who wished to evacuate to Ukrainian-held areas were free to go.

The BBC spoke with the mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, who said,
"The citizens who left the city say that hell exists, and it's in Mariupol."