Mariupol steel plant evacuee said she hasn't seen sunlight in 2 months, as first 100 people evacuated

• A woman evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol said she hadn't seen sunlight in months, the BBC reported.
• A group of about 100 people was evacuated on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

A woman evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, described seeing sunlight for the first time in two months.

About 100 people were evacuated from the plant on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter. It's estimated that up to 1,000 civilians, mainly women and children, alongside 2,000 troops were trapped in the plant's underground bunkers.

"We did not see any sunlight. We were scared," factory worker Natalia Usmanova told reporters on Sunday in a video published by the BBC.

"I can't believe it. Two months of darkness. When we were on the bus I told my husband 'Vasya, won't we have to go to the toilet with a flashlight?'"

She described fearing for her life while sheltering in the plant, as she said multiple shells struck the exit of the bomb shelter, making it difficult for her to breathe due to a lack of oxygen.

"When the shells started landing there I thought my heart would stop and I would not survive," she said.

Russia claimed to have seized total control of the southern port city of Mariupol on April 21, but the steel plant has remained a pocket of resistance.

With a peacetime population of 440,000, Mariupol is of strategic value in part because of its proximity to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

In recent weeks, Russian forces have been carrying out airstrikes on the steel plant and have attempted to storm it, according to Ukrainian officials.

President Zelenskyy praised the work done by international partners such as the United Nations to evacuate civilians, speaking in a Sunday video address posted on Telegram, according to The Washington Post. He reportedly said the evacuated civilians are due to arrive in the Ukraine-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday.

The Ukrainian president added that these were the first "two days of real ceasefire" since Russia invaded on February 24, according to the outlet.

Ukraine National Guard commander Denys Shlega said Russian forces resumed artillery bombardment of the plant almost immediately after the evacuations on Sunday, the BBC reported.

He told the BBC that around 500 wounded soldiers remain in the plant, along with hundreds of civilians.