A United Nations spokesperson has also confirmed that an operation to evacuate civilians from the southern port city of Mariupol is taking place.

Earlier Russia said groups of 25 and 21 people had been evacuated from the area near the Azovstal steelworks, the last remaining part of the city under the control of Ukrainian troops.

Ukrainian soldiers have said 20 people left the steelworks yesterday.

Ukrainian officials say there about 1,000 civilians and more than 500 wounded soldiers trapped at the industrial complex.

However, there are also an estimated 100,000 residents living without water, gas or communications in the wider city, which has been heavily bombed in weeks of Russian attacks.

On Thursday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said "intense discussions" were taking place to agree an evacuation operation, after meetings with President Zelensky in Kyiv and President Putin in Moscow.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed that a process to evacuate civilians from Mariupol is under way.

"The ICRC confirms that a safe passage operation is ongoing, in coordination with the UN and the parties to the conflict," a spokesman said.

"The convoy to evacuate civilians started on 29 April, travelled some 230 kilometres and reached the plant in Mariupol on Saturday morning, local time.

"The ICRC insists on the fact that no details can be shared until the situation allows, as it could seriously jeopardize the safety of the civilians and the convoy. Relevant local authorities are communicating with the civilians about practical details."

Image source, Reuters

It's reported a group of 14 more people have arrived at a temporary accommodation centre after leaving the area around the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, according to a Reuters photographer.

As we've already reported, the news agency said earlier that a group of around 40 civilians, who it said have come from the area near Azovstal, were pictured arriving today at the facility in the village of Bezimenne in the Donetsk Region.

Ukrainian soldiers only said that 20 people have left the steelworks so far.

The BBC has not been able to confirm the figures independently.

We've been reporting that the Russian defence ministry says 46 civilians were evacuated yesterday from the residential areas around the Azovstal steelworks, the last part of the city of Mariupol controlled by Ukrainian forces.

It said they had been taken to the village of Bezimenne, east of Mariupol in the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian soldiers have so far only said that 20 people have left the steelworks.

Now Reuters is reporting that a group of about 40 people, who have come from the area near Azovstal, have arrived at a temporary accommodation centre in Bezimenne.

Images from the news agency show a group including men, woman and a child arriving by bus.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Caroline Davies
BBC News, Odesa

Image source, Konstatin.S

The Russian rouble will be used in Kherson from Sunday, according to Russia-backed forces that have taken control of the southern Ukrainian city.

However, Kherson's Ukrainian mayor, Ihor Kolykhaiev, who has now been overthrown by Russian authorities, has said that he doesn't believe this will be possible while the only working banking system in the region is Ukrainian, not Russian.

Despite being under occupation for 60 days, many residents are trying to find small ways to defy the Russian forces - like exchanging any roubles they receive back into Ukraine's currency, the hryvnia.

But there are very few ways to safely snub the Russian army when it occupies your streets.

Read more here.

Laura Bicker
Reporting from Zaporizhzhia

Mariupol City Council has announced that it will be possible to evacuate civilians from the besieged city today.

This may signal a breakthrough in the operation to free more than 1,000 people from the besieged Azovstal steelworks, the final part of the southern city still in the hands of Ukrainian troops.

But it’s unclear how people will get to the gathering point. And negotiations between the Ukrainians and the Russians have been described to me as delicate and complicated.

The concern on the faces of officials waiting here at the refugee centre in Zaporizhzhia speaks volumes. No-one wants to endanger a deal for a humanitarian corridor at such a critical moment.

Earlier an adviser to the Mariupol mayor said no more information on evacuations would be released. They are calling for radio silence. The mayor of the city has told the BBC that people there are on "the borderline between life and death".

The Russian ministry of defence says 46 civilians have already been evacuated and published video apparently showing people being transported at night in buses, with vehicles from both the Red Cross and United Nations present.

The UN has not confirmed these details, but Ukrainian officials said at least 20 civilians left the plant – a ‘glimmer of hope’ they called it.

Videos released in recent weeks apparently filmed in the maze of tunnels underneath the steel plant show children asking to be allowed out to play in the sunshine, toddlers using nappies made of plastic bags and a frail elderly woman clutching bandages to her head. They have endured more than 60 days of Russian bombardments while sheltering in the vast underground chambers.

Here in Zaporizhzhia, aid workers and hospitals stand ready to help. Everything is in place. And so, amid the official silence, people here continue to wait and hope.

Image source, Russian Ministry of Defence

An evacuation of civilians from Ukraine's mostly Russian-controlled southeastern port city of Mariupol could be possible on Sunday, local officials said on Telegram.

Mariupol's city council and the local governor told residents who wished to leave for the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia to gather at 1600 local time (1300 GMT) at the Port City Mall.

They added: "We pray that everything works."

Russia's defence ministry says its air defence systems shot down two Ukrainian Su-24m bombers over the Kharkiv region overnight, according to the Reuters news agency.

It also said it had struck at weapons supplied to Ukraine by the US and European countries and claimed to have destroyed a runway at a military airfield near the Ukrainian city of Odesa.

The ministry said it used high-precision Onyx missiles to strike the airfield, after Ukraine accused Russia of knocking out a newly-constructed runway at the main airport of Odesa.

More now on the evacuation of a small group of civilians from the Azovstal industrial complex in Mariupol - an adviser to the Ukrainian minister of defence has told the BBC it is a "glimmer of hope".

Yuri Sak said: "These are of course just small numbers because there are more than 1,000 civilians who are still trapped in Azovstal steelworks and additionally there are also over 500 wounded soldiers who also need to be evacuated to receive the necessary medical assistance."

"The situation, while there is a glimmer of hope, continues to be extremely difficult," he added.

Ukrainian soldiers say 20 people left the steelworks - the final part of the southern city still in the hands of Ukrainian troops - yesterday, but it's not clear where they have been evacuated to.

Russia's defence ministry says two groups, of 25 and then 21 people, left residential buildings near the steelworks, but this has not been confirmed independently.

The defence ministry released a video showing a convoy including several buses driving in the dark - at least one of them transporting people. It shows a Red Cross vehicle and two UN vehicles.

Neither the UN or Red Cross has given any confirmation.

US Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked by a journalist about where the US draws the line in terms of rhetoric and supplying weapons without "provoking something far worse".

She replies: "Let me just speak for myself. Do not be bullied by bullies. If they're making threats you cannot back down. We're there for the fight, and you cannot fold to a bully."

US Speaker Nancy Pelosi says her delegation had the “great honour to meet with the President of Ukraine yesterday.”

She says the discussions centred around “security, humanitarian assistance and economic assistance and eventually rebuilding when victory is won.”

Pelosi says she was proud to convey “a message of unity from the Congress of the United States, a message of appreciation from the American people for his leadership and admiration to the people of Ukraine for their courage.”

She adds: “It is with great sorrow that we come here, but with great pride we leave with a firmer understanding… of what needs to be done.”

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is giving a news conference about her visit to Kyiv to meet President Zelensky.

We'll bring you updates of what she says.

Image source, Reuters

The Ukrainian military said on Saturday it had recaptured four settlements to the north and east of the eastern city of Kharkiv - Upper Roganka, Ruska Lozova, Slobidske and Prelesne.

The Institute for War Studies says this has been part a series of successful counter-attacks, external out of the city in recent days.

Ukrainian forces have "recaptured a ring of suburbs north and east of the city" which it says may alleviate pressure on residential areas of the city that have faced intensive Russian shelling.

It also says these counter-attacks may force Russia to redeploy units which had been intended for operation in the region around Izyum to the south-east.

"Russian forces appear increasingly unlikely to achieve any major advances in eastern Ukraine, and Ukrainian forces may be able to conduct wider counter-attacks in the coming days," the ISW assessment says.

Image source, .

Two groups of civilians left residential buildings near the Azovstal steelworks in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry has said.

Twenty-five people came out in the afternoon, as has been reported, but a further 21 left after dark, it said in a post on Telegram.

They have received food, accommodation and medical care, it said.

The BBC has not been able to confirm this independently. The Ukrainian government has not commented.

The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, says an estimated 1,000 civilians remained at the steel plant and some people there are “on the borderline between life and death”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his troops to seal off the plant, trapping the last remaining Ukrainian forces in Mariupol, as part of an attack that has razed the city and killed thousands of civilians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is trying to ramp up pressure on Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbas region.

In his nightly video address on Saturday evening he said they are "gathering additional forces for new attacks there" but he had a defiant message which he addressed directly to Russian soldiers.

"It is better for you to survive in Russia than to perish on our soil," he said.

“We know that the Russian command is preparing for new big losses. In those units, whose personnel was weakened in March-April, new people are being recruited with little motivation, little combat experience,” he said.

"Every Russian soldier can save his own life,” he said.

Zelensky said Ukraine was doing "everything" to ensure a mission is carried out to evacuate hundreds of stranded civilians and fighters from the southern city of Mariupol.

He said Ukraine was working with partners to increase sanctions on Moscow and expects to see a decision on further oil restrictions "in the near future".

He said the destroyed runway at Odesa airport would be rebuilt and pledged that Russian-occupied cities, including Kherson, Melitopol and Berdyansk would be liberated.

In its latest daily briefing, the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) says Russia is intent on exerting "strong political and economic influence" in Kherson.

The southern Ukrainian city was captured by Russian forces in early March, and will help Russia to improve its control over Crimea, along with its military push to the north and west, the MoD said in a tweet.

From today, in an effort to strengthen its control of the region, Russia is introducing a four-month currency transition from the Ukrainian hryvnia to the Russian rouble.

Image source, @ZelenskyyUa

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made a surprise visit to Kyiv and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a tweet with a video clip showing Pelosi in the streets of the Ukrainian capital, external, President Zelensky said “the United States is the leader in strong support for Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression”.

“Thank you for helping to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state!”

Pelosi was accompanied by fellow senior Democrat Adam Schiff and three other Congressmen. She is yet to comment on the visit.

A visit to Kyiv by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin last weekend was only officially confirmed by the White House after they had left the country.

Hugo Bachega
Reporting from Dnipro

Efforts are under way to secure the safe evacuation of more people trapped in the sprawling Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

Sviatoslav Palamar, the deputy commander of the Azov regiment at the plant, said in a video on Telegram on Saturday that a group of about 20 women and children had managed to leave amid a local ceasefire.

“We’re getting civilians out of the rubble [within the plant] with ropes – it’s the elderly, women and children,” he said. He hoped the people would be taken to the city of Zaporizhzhia, where an evacuation centre has been set up for civilians fleeing the fighting.

The site, completely surrounded by Russian troops, is the last pocket of refuge for Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, who are sheltering in a vast network of underground shelters and tunnels as food and water supplies run out.

UN-backed talks have been happening in recent days after several failed attempts to create safe corridors, with Ukraine blaming Russia for continued shelling.

The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, told the BBC an estimated 1,000 civilians remained at the steel plant, and that 600 of them were injured. Ukrainian officials have not said how many fighters are there.

Image source, .

Welcome back, and if you're just joining us in the UK, good morning.

We'll be bringing you the latest developments from Ukraine throughout the day.

Here's the latest:

• Efforts are continuing to secure the safe evacuation of more civilians trapped in the steelworks at Mariupol. President Zelensky says Ukraine is doing what it can to arrange further evacuations
• At least 20 civilians left the Azovstal plant late on Saturday, but it's not clear where they have been taken. Russian media and soldiers at the plant said some children were among the group
• US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has thanked Ukrainians for their "fight for freedom" as she met President Zelensky during a visit to Kyiv
• Russian troops controlling the city of Kherson say the rouble will be used there from today
• In his nightly address, Zelensky said Russia was gathering additional forces for new attacks in the east
• In Odesa, a southern strategic port city, the airport was hit by a missile strike late on Saturday, destroying its runway

Image source, Reuters

Our live page is pausing for the night - we'll be back on Sunday morning. We leave you with some of Saturday's main developments:

• Russia has been forced to merge and redeploy depleted units from failed advances in north-east Ukraine to the Donbas, says the UK Ministry of Defence
• Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says more than a million people have been evacuated from Ukraine to Russia since the war began
• He also says Russia's "special military operation" is developing "strictly according to plan" - despite Western claims to the contrary
• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has told Polish media that the chance of peace talks collapsing is "high"

• Russia has rejected the Pentagon's accusation that Vladimir Putin has acted with "depravity" in his invasion of Ukraine
• President Emmanuel Macron says France will step up military and humanitarian support to Ukraine

• The mayor of Mariupol says people there are “on the borderline between life and death”
• Twenty civilians have been able to leave the city's Azovstal steelworks

• Odesa airport has been hit by a missile strike, destroying its runway, say multiple reports