Ukrainian defenders said numbers of civilians forced to evacuate from the blown-up plant arrived in relative safety, Wednesday.
They told of numerous days and nights loaded with fear and hopelessness as a result of constant bombing raids.
Russian troops stormed the steel mill encompassing various Mariupol's last unit of resistance yesterday following the evacuations.
Due to the evacuation effort, 101 individuals, comprising women, the seniors, and 17 children, the youngest of whom was six months old, were allowed to escape from the Azovstal steel works bunkers and "see the sunlight after two months," the UN humanitarian coordinator Osnat Lubrani said.
One evacuee claimed she slept at the facility every night scared of not being able to wake up the next morning.
"You can't fathom how terrifying it is to be in the underground bunker, in a wet and humid basement, and it's vibrating and rocking," Elina Tsybulchenko, 54, said as she arrived in a convoy of ambulances in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia.
She claimed that if the bunker was hit by a missile similar to the ones that produced the massive craters she observed on the two counts she walked outdoors, they would all be dead.
Evacuees, some weeping, pushed their way from the buses into a camp that provided some of the amenities they had been deprived of for weeks underground, such as warm food, diapers, and internet access.
Small children were fed by mothers. A few of the evacuees searched over donated clothing shelves, which included clean underwear.
For those who remained, the news was even worse. The enormous factory, which comprises a labyrinth of tunnels and bunkers stretched out over four square miles, was stormed by Russian forces supported by tanks, according to Ukrainian leaders.
It's uncertain how many Ukrainian soldiers were trapped inside, but the Russians placed the figure at around 2,000 in recent weeks, with 500 reportedly injured. According to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, a few hundred residents remained in the area.
"We'll do whatever we can to oppose the attack," Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of Ukraine's Azov Regiment, said on Telegram. "But we're asking for immediate efforts to rescue the residents who remain inside the facility and get them out unharmed."
He went on to say that the plant was bombarded with naval gunfire and warplanes all night. He said two innocent women were killed and 10 people were injured.
Lubrani of the United Nations raised hopes for more evacuations but said nothing had been planned.