An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 1,000 civilians are said to remain inside the industrial area where the Azovstal steelworks is located, according to unconfirmed information.
Ukrainian troops have so far been able to resist the Russian attacks, but Mariupol's mayor Vadym Boichenko says according to Sky News that the situation inside the steel plant is serious and that civilians "appeal to be saved".
Around the steelworks there are underground networks of bunkers and passages that can withstand air attacks, but the situation for those trapped inside the industrial area must have worsened after Russia used so-called bunker crackers, bombs designed to penetrate targets far underground.
Javascript is disabled
Javascript must be turned on to play video
Read more about browser support
The browser is not supported
SVT does not support playback in your browser.
We therefore recommend that you switch to a different browser.
Read more about browser support
The steel plant in Mariupol is in ruins - for the second time.
See the pictures from the Second World War to today in the clip.
Photo: Sergei Grits / AP / TT & SVT
Zelenskiy: Evacuation is planned
This week, the UN stated that Russia "in principle" has agreed that the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross will be allowed to carry out evacuations of civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's staff said on Friday, according to Reuters, that an evacuation of civilians was planned, but no details were given as to when and how it would take place.
Appeals for soldiers to leave
The extremist nationalist Azov Battalion is involved in defending the steelworks for Ukraine.
The commander of the National Guard is Denys Prokopenko, and now his wife Kateryna Prokopenko is appealing that an evacuation should also include soldiers.
In an interview with the news agency AP, she and Yuliia Fedusiuk, who also defends the steelworks, say that they are afraid that the soldiers will be tortured and killed if they are left behind and captured by Russian forces.
- The lives of the soldiers are also important.
We can not just talk about civilians, says Yuliia Fedusiuk.
- We must do this now, because people die, every hour, every second, says Kateryna Prokopenko, who states that 600 of the soldiers at the steelworks are injured.
The deputy commander of the Azov Battalion told The New York Times this week that the soldiers are ready to leave the steelworks and that there is no longer anything left to defend.
- We believe that we have fulfilled our mission.
But we will continue to defend it until we receive a retreat order.
If we are to leave, we will leave with our weapons, he told the newspaper.
Javascript is disabled
Javascript must be turned on to play video
Read more about browser support
The browser is not supported
SVT does not support playback in your browser.
We therefore recommend that you switch to a different browser.
Read more about browser support
This is the Azov Battalion - see a summary in the clip.
Photo: Azov Battalion's recruitment video