'We didn't see the sun': Evacuee recounts terror in the bunkers of Azovstal

A long-awaited effort to evacuate people from a steel plant in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol was underway on Sunday, the United Nations said

Internally displaced people from Mariupol arrive at a refugee center fleeing from the Russian attacks, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Picture: AP Photo/Leo Correa

Around 100 Ukrainian civilians were evacuated from the ruined Azovstal steelworks in the city of Mariupol on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the United Nations confirmed a "safe passage operation" was in progress there.

Cowering in the labyrinth of Soviet-era bunkers far beneath the vast complex, Natalia Usmanova felt her heart would stop she was so terrified as Russian bombs rained down on Mariupol, sprinkling her with concrete dust.