A two-month-old baby is among Ukrainians that have been evacuated from a besieged steelworks in the southern city of Mariupol.
Most of the strategic city has now fallen into Russian control, but hundreds of civilians had remained trapped in the Azovstal steel plant.
That’s alongside a large number of Ukrainian soldiers who are the last defenders of the city.
The Azovstal works is a large industrial area made up of a network of underground tunnels, which has made it difficult for Russian forces to capture.
The long-awaited rescue by the International Federation of the Red Cross began over the weekend, in coordination with Ukrainian and Russian officials.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has tweeted that the first group of 100 people is heading to the Ukraine-contolled city of Zaporizhzhia.
“Grateful to our team!” he said.
“Now they, together with UN, are working on the evacuation of other civilians from the plant."
Among the evacuees were women and young children, including a two-month-old baby.
Video from the Associated Press shows people being helped to climb over debris at the plant and evacuees sitting on a bus.
Their rescue comes after videos emerged showing women and children who said they were “running out of strength.”
One woman being evacuated told the Associated Press that they had begun running out of food in the plant, something that Ukrainians fleeing the city of Mariupol have also spoken about.
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