Fighting intensifies at the Mariupol steel plant as rescuers attempt another evacuation.

Battles shook the grounds of the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol overnight after Russian forces breached the complex where the last Ukrainian fighters were holding out, even as an evacuation convoy was set to arrive on Friday to help rescue the remaining civilians desperate to escape.

The convoy mission was underway on Friday, the third effort to extract noncombatants from the scene of one of the most brutal battles of the war, according to the United Nations and Ukrainian officials.

But it remained unclear whether civilians would be able reach the evacuation vehicles amid the relentless shelling and artillery fire, which has turned the plant into a smoldering ruin that one city official called “a picture of total living hell.” The barrage is part of a renewed push by Russia to capture the plant in the lead-up to its Victory Day holiday next week. Read more

@nytimes