Azovstal Defenders Vow To Fight Until The End, Saying, 'We Don't Have Much Time'

The last Ukrainian fighters in the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the strategic port of Mariupol vowed on May 8 not to give up as they face a bloody final showdown with Russian invaders after the evacuation of civilians.

"We will continue to fight as long as we are alive to repel the Russian occupiers," Captain Svyatoslav Palamar, a deputy commander of Ukraine's Azov Regiment, told an online news conference.

"We don't have much time. We are coming under intense shelling," Palamar said, pleading with the international community to help to evacuate wounded soldiers from the plant.

Officials on both sides said the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal had been completed. Eight buses carrying 174 Mariupol civilians, including 40 evacuated from the steelworks, arrived in Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhya on May 8, AFP reported.

Azovstal, with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders holed up in its sprawling network of underground tunnels and bunkers, has achieved a symbolic value in the conflict, with the Russian forces seeking a celebratory win ahead of the Victory Day holiday on May 9.

The conquering of Mariupol would also give Moscow a land bridge between the Crimean Peninsula, which it illegally annexed in 2014, and regions run by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told leaders of the Group of 7 (G7) countries on May 8 that 60 civilians died in the bombing of a school on May 7 in the eastern Luhansk region.

"They were hiding from shelling in the building of a regular school, which was attacked by a Russian air strike," he said during a virtual meeting.

Serhiy Hayday, the governor of the Luhansk region, told reporters earlier that Russian forces had bombed the school in Bilohorivka where about 90 people were sheltering, triggering a fire that engulfed the building.

Hayday said 30 people were rescued from under the rubble.

Bilohorivka is an urban settlement about 10 kilometers west of Lysychansk, which is under heavy Russian bombardment.

Zelenskiy denounced Russia's heavy shelling in the east of the country, saying Russia has "forgotten everything that was important to the victors of World War II" a day before Moscow commemorates the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany.

WATCH: In the first stage of the operation to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal steelworks, which is under attack by Russian forces in Mariupol, over 150 people were brought out by bus. Those who got out told harrowing stories on May 3 of bodies strewn around the plant.

Azovstal Evacuees Tell Harrowing Tales Of Survival In Mariupol's Besieged Steelworks

After Zelenskiy met with the G7 leaders, the group condemned Russia’s "unprovoked, unjustifiable, and illegal military aggression" against Ukraine and its "attempts to replace democratically elected Ukrainian local authorities with illegitimate ones."

The G7 leaders commemorated the anniversary of the end of World War II by pledging to "spare no effort" to hold Putin and the architects "and accomplices of this aggression," including the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Belarus, accountable for their actions.

SEE ALSO: Interview: Why The 'Failure' Of Russian Spies, Generals Is Leading To 'Apocalyptic' Thinking In The Kremlin

The leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States said Putin's actions "bring shame on Russia and the historical sacrifices of its people."

The United States after the meeting announced sanctions against three Russian television stations and executives from Gazprombank along with a ban on Americans providing accounting and consulting services to Russians.

Ahead of the virtual meeting, British officials announced an extra $1.6 billion in military aid for Ukraine. The funding includes 300 million pounds of military equipment promised by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This includes radar systems to target Russian artillery, GPS jamming equipment, and night-vision devices.

Earlier in the day, Zelenskiy met with the president of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, Baerbel Bas, who traveled to Kyiv by train, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced new weapons and equipment for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russian individuals and entities connected with the invasion. He also said the Canadian Embassy would reopen.

Zelenskiy said securing the Bundestag's approval of heavy arms deliveries to help Ukraine fend off Russian attacks was one of his country's top priorities.

SEE ALSO: Inside Azovstal: The Ukrainian Metalworks That Has Become A 'Last Stand' Fortress

The visit came after a major shift in German policy to send heavy weapons to Ukraine, including self-propelled howitzers and Gepard anti-aircraft systems, also known as the Cheetah system.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has faced increasing criticism over Germany not doing enough to help Ukraine amid Russia's invasion. But Scholz's government reversed course last month and pledged to export heavier weapons to Kyiv.

On May 6, Zelenskiy called on Scholz to take a "powerful step" and visit Kyiv on May 9 -- the date that Russia commemorates as the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. There was no immediate word on whether Scholz had agreed.

The German chancellor emphasized Germany's historical responsibility in supporting Ukraine against Russia's war in a televised speech he was to deliver to mark the anniversary.

"We have learned a central lesson from our country's catastrophic history between 1933 and 1945," Scholz said, according to a transcript of the address quoted by dpa.

"Freedom and security will triumph -- just as freedom and security triumphed over violence and dictatorship 77 years ago," he said.

On the battlefront, Russia's Defense Ministry said on May 8 that it had destroyed a Ukrainian Navy ship near Odesa in an overnight missile strike.

The ministry's statement added that Russian air defenses also shot down two Ukrainian SU-24 bombers and a Mi-24 helicopter over Snake Island in the Black Sea at night.

SEE ALSO: Senior U.S. Official Vows More Aid To Ukraine To 'Win This War,' More 'Crippling Sanctions' For Russia

The reports could not be independently verified.

The head of Ukraine's regional military administration said Russian troops launched a series of missile strikes in the Odesa region during the day on May 8.

According to Maxim Marchenko, the attacks took place beginning early in the day, and Ukrainian air-defense units shot down four missiles, but an apartment house was hit, wounding a young girl, and a substation was destroyed, knocking out power in six neighborhoods.

On May 7, the Ukrainian military said it had destroyed a Russian landing ship near Snake Island, hitting it with an armed drone. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Russian forces launched a new offensive last month along most of Ukraine's eastern flank, with some of most intense attacks and shelling taking place recently around Popasna in the Luhansk region.

There has also been fierce fighting around Popasna in recent days amid a sustained Russian assault, and Hayday said Ukrainian forces had been pulling back and that the town had been destroyed.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said his troops had taken control of most of the town.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and dpa