Some children hiding in the Mariupol steel plant are losing their hair and teeth from the stress of watching their parents killed, the Times of London reported on Thursday. Russia said last week it had “liberated” the Ukrainian port city, except for the Azovstal steel plant, which serves as a final haven for thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. Ukrainian officials said the civilians hiding in the steel plant’s vast network of underground tunnels were mostly women and children. A woman who identified herself as Victoria told the Times she had been in contact with her 36-year-old brother, a National Guard soldier who had been sheltering in Azovstal since the beginning of the war. He did not want to name him for security reasons. “There are a lot of civilians,” he told the Times. “I think a lot of them are Azovstal staff. There are also a lot of them whose houses were destroyed. A lot of elderly people and children.” The woman told the Times that, according to her brother, many of the children housed in Azovstal have gray hair and have begun to stutter from the anxiety of seeing their parents killed. “Some people lose hair and teeth,” he added. Insider could not independently verify Viktoria’s allegations. It is also not clear how many children have been affected or exactly where and when their parents died. Earlier this week, Russian forces launched new airstrikes on the Azovstal plant and even tried to invade it, Ukrainian officials said. On Thursday, Ukrainian forces at the plant told the Telegram that Russian troops had bombed a field hospital at the plant. It is not clear how many people lost their lives in the attack. The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that Ukrainian forces planned to evacuate civilians from the steel plant. He did not give further details about the specifics of the business. The United Nations said on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed “in principle” to an attempt to evacuate Azovstal.
