Women, children, and elderly Mariupol residents hiding in the Azovstal steel mill have been evacuated following weeks of continuous Russian shelling.

All women, children, and elderly citizens have been evacuated from the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol. The deputy prime minister of Ukraine stated early Sunday am Australian time, despite what military officers described as a continued Russian assault on the facility.

"This portion of the humanitarian operation in Mariupol has concluded," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on the Telegram messaging app early on Sunday AM local time in Australia.

According to the chief of the CIA, Putin feels he "cannot afford to lose" his attack in Ukraine, who stated that the US intelligence agency believes Putin "cannot afford to lose" the operation.

Bill Burns, head of the Central Intelligence Agency, was quoted by the French news agency AFP saying that the United States remained "sharply focused" on the threat of a nuclear strike by Russia.

Resistance's emblem

As the final Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol, the Azovstal steel plant from the Soviet era has become a symbol of resistance to Russia's broader campaign to seize large portions of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Under severe bombardment, fighters and civilians have been trapped in the site's underground bunkers and tunnels for weeks.

According to Ukraine's military leadership, Russian forces backed by tanks and artillery attempted to overrun Azovstal again on Saturday as a brutal assault to evict the last Ukrainian defenders in the important port city on the Azov Sea.

Several weeks of Russian bombardment have left Mariupol in ruins. Several civilians have evacuated the vast steel complex during lulls in the conflict during the past week.

Earlier on Saturday, Russia's Interfax news agency cited separatists in the Donetsk region of Ukraine supported by Moscow, stating that 50 additional people had been evacuated from the besieged steelworks.

By mid-afternoon, Reuters journalists had seen no indication of their arrival at a welcome center in the separatist-controlled area near Mariupol.

According to the separatists, 176 individuals have been evacuated from the facility.

The evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant, facilitated by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), began over the weekend. However, renewed violence stalled their progress during the week.

Earlier this week, the city's mayor reported that 200 residents were entrapped within theștiintific facility.

After the deputy prime minister's announcement on Saturday, it was unclear whether or not civilian men remained in the compound.

In a late-night video message Friday night, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that diplomatic efforts were also being made to rescue the combatants entrenched inside the steel mill. Uncertain was the number of remaining combatants.

The combatants have promised to fight to the death. Officials in Ukraine worry that Russian forces intend to eradicate them by Monday, in time for Moscow's commemorations of the Soviet Union's triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II.

On April 21, President Putin declared victory in Mariupol, ordered the facility to be surrounded, and demanded that Ukrainian forces inside disarm. However, Russia renewed its attack on the plant later on.

Unable to afford to lose

Burns, director of the CIA, stated that President Putin's belief that his troops can destroy Ukraine has not changed despite the inability of Russian forces to capture Kyiv and their difficulty in advancing along the war's main frontlines in the southern Donbas region.

He said, "I believe he is in a state of mind in which he cannot afford to lose."

Mr. Putin has not been deterred by the war's opposition, according to Mr. Burns, because "he had so much riding on the decisions he made to launch this invasion."

Shortly after commencing the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russia placed its nuclear forces on high alert.

Mr. Burns stated, "At this time, the intelligence community is not aware of any concrete evidence of Russian preparations for the deployment or even potential use of nuclear tactical weapons."

"At a time when the stakes are extremely high for Russia, our intelligence services maintain a laser-like focus... on these possibilities," he said.