SOME women and children were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol today after a humanitarian corridor was opened briefly to facilitate their escape. 

An estimated 1,000 civilians have been holed up there with 2,000 Ukrainian troops associated with the far-right Azov Battalion. 

The south-eastern port city is the stronghold of the neonazi group, which has its headquarters there. It has been subjected to a brutal siege by the invading Russian army, which announced victory there last month.