I am pretty sure the Russians stopped firing for hours on the day they offered the surrender from Azovstal. The Russians had to put up a flag, and the Ukrainians were to do the same if they wanted to leave... I believe there was no action by the Ukrainian side to confirm. This is my understanding of the situation. If the civilians were there and were not allowed to leave, they are sort of being used as human shields. I think the Russians were intending to bomb those remaining, until they were made aware that there might be civilians with the fighters.
