Civilians From Mariupol Evacuated Again Ukrainian Government, United Nations And International Red Cross

People walk their bicycles across a street as smoke rises above the Azovstal steel plant during the Ukrainian-Russian conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine. (ANTARA/Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko)

JAKARTA - A convoy of buses left Mariupol on Wednesday in the latest attempt to evacuate civilians by Ukraine, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross from the southern Ukrainian city, the local governor said.

The convoy was headed for the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, said Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.

He did not mention the number of buses in the convoy or whether other civilians had been evacuated from the steel plant in Mariupol, where the city's last defense is battling Russian forces.

Dozens of refugees for several weeks in the bunker of the Azovstal steel mill arrived in Zaporizhzhia safely on Tuesday.

However, aid workers said that many people were still trapped in the port city. "The bus convoy has already left Mariupol," Kyrylenko said via the Telegram messaging app. "Give this information to those in need!"

The Azovstal industrial complex along with its bunkers and tunnels became a haven for civilians and Ukrainian fighters as Moscow laid siege to Mariupol, a strategic city on the Sea of Azov. The mayor of Mariupol said on Tuesday that more than 200 civilians were still at the Azovstal factory. A total of 100,000 civilians remain. was in the city, devastated by weeks of siege and Russian artillery fire.