Total ceasefire needed for civilians to exit Azot plant: governor
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Smoke rises after a military strike on a compound of Sievierodonetsk's Azot Chemical Plant, in Lysychansk, Luhansk region, on June 10, 2022.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KYIV (AFP) - Ukraine said on Friday (June 17) that only a "complete ceasefire" would make it possible for hundreds of civilians to be evacuated from the Azot chemical plant in the embattled eastern city of Sievierodonetsk.
"It is now impossible and physically dangerous to get out of the plant due to constant shelling and fighting. There are 568 people in the shelter, including 38 children," Lugansk Governor Sergiy Gaiday said on social media. "Exit from the plant is possible only with a complete ceasefire."
Sievierodonetsk is the largest city in the Lugansk region that is still in Ukrainian hands, and it has been under heavy Russian shelling for weeks.
It is at the centre of fighting between Ukraine and Russian troops, which have focused their military efforts on the industrial Donbas region that includes Lugansk after withdrawing from the areas around the capital and the north.
Mr Gaiday said earlier this week that around 10,000 civilians remained in the city, which is controlled mostly by Russian forces.
