HUNDREDS of people are believed to remain trapped in a steel plant in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, despite large numbers leaving in a humanitarian corridor on Sunday. 

Russian bombardment of the Azovstal plant recommenced today as the remaining forces associated with the neonazi Azov Battalion continued to hold out. 

One of the commanders of the remaining units, Denys Shlega, said that shelling began soon after the evacuation of civilians. 

But he told Ukrainian television that “several dozen small children are still in the bunkers underneath the plant.” 

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said food, water and medical supplies were running low for those that remained holed up in Azovstal. 

“The situation has become a sign of a real humanitarian catastrophe,” she said. 

President Volodomyr Zelensky welcomed the evacuation of hundreds of civilians that had been trapped in the steel plant held under siege by Russian forces. 

“Grateful to our team! Now they, together with [the] UN, are working on the evacuation of other civilians from the plant,” he said.

Russian sources claimed to have destroyed a bridge near to the southern port city of Odessa, saying it was being used to funnel Western weapons to Ukrainian forces. 

German party Die Linke warned the government today that it has made Germany “an active party to the war.”

MP Zaklin Nastic made the remarks in response to last week’s decision, agreed in the country’s parliament, to send more military hardware to Ukraine. 

“The federal government is exposing the whole of Europe to a completely uncontrollable danger,” she said. 

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Anna Baerbock have come under fire for pushing ahead with plans to arm Ukraine and were both heckled at public meetings last weekend. 

Mr Scholz defended his actions after being labelled a warmonger at International Workers’ Day rally in Dusseldorf on Sunday.  

“I respect any pacifism and any opinion. But it must seem cynical to citizens of Ukraine if they are told they should defend themselves against Putin's aggression without weapons,” he said. 

But a report from a panel of experts warned the government in mid-March that arming and training Ukrainian soldiers on German territory risks the country losing its “safe” status as a neutral party in the conflict under international law.

Last Friday the US admitted that the Ukrainian military was receiving training at a number of its German bases.