SOME women and children were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol today after a humanitarian corridor was opened briefly to facilitate their escape. 

An estimated 1,000 civilians have been holed up there with 2,000 Ukrainian troops associated with the far-right Azov Battalion. 

The south-eastern port city is the stronghold of the neonazi group, which has its headquarters there. It has been subjected to a brutal siege by the invading Russian army, which announced victory there last month. 

According to battalion spokesman Sviatoslav Palamarl, 20 civilians were evacuated after the plant came under heavy bombardment overnight.  

“We hope that they will be evacuated to Zaporizhzhia, on territory controlled by Ukraine,” he said.  

“All night, the enemy artillery bombarded the site. The Azov regiment is still clearing the rubble to get civilians out. We hope this procedure will continue so that we will manage to evacuate all the civilians.”

According to the Russian Defence Ministry, 46 civilians left the area in two separate groups and were “provided with food and water.”

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered her country’s continued support to Ukraine during a visit to the country that is believed to have taken place on Saturday. 

She told President Volodomyr Zelensky that he was fighting for democracy.

“We are on a frontier of freedom and your fight is a fight for everyone. Our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done,” she said. 

Members of Congress Barbara Lee and Bill Keating were also part of the high-profile delegation and took part in a press conference in the Polish city of Rzeszow. 

Mariupol has been the centre of fierce fighting that has destroyed large parts of the city. Russian forces are now largely in control,  but the Azov Battalion continues to fight.

The far-right unit has been accused by Russia of using civilians as human shields in the Azovstal steel plant and has refused to surrender.

Refugees from the east have made similar claims to the Morning Star, accusing the fascist forces of holding them hostage and preventing them from leaving the besieged city.

Arms have continued to flow into Ukraine.

German Foreign Minister Anna Baerbock was barracked by crowds on Saturday at a campaign rally in the northern German town of Ahrensburg.

She was branded a “warmonger” and a “liar” after she insisted that arming Ukraine was the right thing to do. 

The German parliament voted on Thursday to increase deliveries of heavy weapons to Ukraine.