Russian forces have liberated 800 civilians from the Azot chemical plant in the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), the head of Russia's Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, said on Saturday.
"As many as 800 civilians have been liberated from the territory of the Azot chemical plant. The airport's clearance of remaining armed gangs is being carried out, with its whole territory being under control [of Russian forces]," Kadyrov said on Telegram.
He added that Severodonetsk's industrial area and airport are also liberated, and that the Russian military is conducting clearance of Borivske urban-type settlement.
In a different Telegram post shortly later, Kadyrov said that all civilians have been evacuated from underground facilities of the Azot plant, where they had been used as a "human shield" by holed up Ukrainian militants, and the entire industrial area of Severodonetsk, including its airport, and Borivske have been liberated.
An officer with the LPR People's Militia, Lt. Col. Andrei Marochko, confirmed on his Telegram channel that "the industrial area of the Azot plant in Severodonetsk went under full control of the LPR People's Militia and allied Russian forces."
Later in the day, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said during a briefing that an attempt by Ukrainian armed forces to turn the territory of Azot plant into a persistent hotbed of resistance was thwarted, with the plant is now controlled by units of LPR People's Militia.
The Azot chemical plant occupies almost the half of Severodonetsk's territory. The plant had been under the control of Ukrainian militants for several weeks after they were pushed and encircled there when the city went under the control of Russian and LPR forces. Last week, the Russian military offered safe exit to militants at Azot who agree to surrender. It also called on them to let civilians leave the plant and evacuate via a humanitarian corridor to a non-combat area in the LPR.
