A new United Nations convoy is heading to the Azovstal industrial complex, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the city of Mariupol, with the aim of evacuating civilians trapped there, according to a UN official, today Thursday.

Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said during a conference in Warsaw: "Today, as we speak, a convoy is heading to reach Azovstal by tomorrow morning, hoping to evacuate the remaining civilians trapped in this dark hell for several weeks and months, and to bring them back safely."

This convoy represents a new attempt to evacuate civilians after the United Nations and the Red Cross said on Tuesday that 101 civilians were taken out of the tunnels in the Azovstal steel plant in the strategic coastal city of Mariupol in the south of the country. This was the first evacuation of civilians from this large industrial complex. They were transferred to the city of Zaporizhzhia under Kyiv's control.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed today that the Russian army is still "ready" to ensure the "safe" evacuation of civilians trapped with Ukrainian soldiers in the Azovstal complex.

The Kremlin conveyed Putin's words during a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, saying, "The Russian army is still prepared to guarantee the safe evacuation of civilians."

Putin also said that Kyiv must order the Ukrainian fighters holed up in Azovstal to lay down their arms.

This comes as the commander of the Ukrainian forces in its last strongholds in the city of Mariupol called on the international community to pressure Russia to allow the evacuation of civilians and wounded soldiers.

Heavy fighting broke out today in the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where Russian forces tried to complete their control of Mariupol.

Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers are entrenched in the underground tunnels of the steel plant, many of them injured, along with some civilians.

Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Ukrainian Azov regiment, said in a filmed statement from the steel plant tunnels today Thursday that "wounded soldiers are dying due to lack of medicine."