Russia-Ukraine war updates for May 4, 2022
A second wave of evacuees reached Zaporizhzhia from the besieged Azovstal steel plant as Ukrainian officials said dozens of children remained trapped and Russia pressed its offensive in the east.
More than 150 people evacuated from Mariupol arrived in Zaporizhzhia on May 4, 2022, according to CNN, as Ukrainian officials worked to move civilians out of the besieged city and the Azovstal steel plant complex where fighting continued. NPR reported that 127 civilians -- women, children and the elderly -- had been evacuated from Azovstal itself in the days before, a journey that stretched roughly 230 kilometers and took three days, compared with about three hours before the war.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said more than 200 civilians were still believed to remain inside Azovstal, including about 30 children, according to Al Jazeera. "They are waiting for a new negotiation procedure and a new evacuation mission," Boychenko said of those still trapped. A Ukrainian commander at the plant described "bloody battles" underway after Russian forces breached the perimeter, per CNN's reporting.
Evacuees described conditions inside the plant's shelters as dire. Al Jazeera quoted a woman identified as Inna, who had sheltered underground with her daughter since March 2, saying Russian forces "took photos of us as if we were criminals, front and profile" and telling her there was "no way back." Another evacuee, Anna, who sheltered with a six-month-old baby, said, "It was very hard but we managed," describing boiling water by candlelight while a grandfather risked shelling to fetch supplies.
The evacuation mechanism
The evacuations were coordinated by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, the UN team leader on the ground, said mines and unexploded ordnance had been cleared along the evacuation route and that mortar fire occurred during the operation without reported casualties, according to Al Jazeera. The Russian Ministry of Defense said it would open additional evacuation corridors from Azovstal the following day, per CNN.
The wider picture
Al Jazeera's reporting put the number of civilians still believed to remain in Mariupol at roughly 100,000, underscoring that the Azovstal evacuations, while significant, addressed only a fraction of the city's besieged population. US intelligence assessments cited elsewhere in the day's coverage suggested Russia could move to formally annex the separatist-held Donetsk and Luhansk regions by mid-May.
What is not confirmed
Outlets differed on precise headcounts of both evacuees and those still trapped -- CNN's figure of 150-plus arriving in Zaporizhzhia is not identical to NPR's 127 figure for the Azovstal-specific evacuation, likely reflecting different evacuation waves or reporting cutoffs. The exact number of children remaining at Azovstal beyond Boychenko's estimate of 30 was not independently confirmed in the retrieved sources.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by CNN, NPR and Al Jazeera. It restores a story originally published on this site in May 2022; figures are as reported at the time.