Sophie Williams
Reporting from Lviv

Image source, Antytila

The famous Ukrainian group Antytila spoke with me earlier about their new collaboration with Ed Sheeran, some of which was written and filmed while on the front line.

Following the invasion of Ukraine, members of the group swapped their musical instruments for weapons and joined in the fight against Russian troops. They are mainly working as medics on the front line.

Antytila went viral for offering to perform at the Concert for Ukraine in Birmingham. But organisers turned down the offer because of their military links.

Lead singer Taras Topolya said that the band’s song with Sheeran is helping raise awareness of the situation in Ukraine.

“I am very glad that such a famous singer is supporting Ukrainians. By using our art, we can declare our position, our narrative. We can fight on the cultural front line. We can influence through culture and art,” he told me.

Read more and listen to it here.

Image source, Reuters

Ukrainians gathered at a rally in central Kyiv to call for the safe evacuation of civilians and military still trapped in Mariupol, as the first Azovstal evacuees began to arrive in Zaporizhzhia.

It is believed that hundreds of civilians remain at the Azovstal steel plant.

Ukrainian troops - both those within the Ukrainian military and the controversial Azov regiment - are also still at the site in Mariupol.

A commander of the Azov military unit said Russia has once again launched a "powerful assault" on the Azvostal plant.

Some of the women and children at the rally are said to be family members of Azov fighters, and protestors can be seen holding up flags associated with the group.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

A large group of civilians who have been evacuated from Russian-controlled Mariupol have made their way to the relative safety of Zaporizhzhia, passing through various checkpoints on the 200km journey.

Among them are people who've been sheltering beneath the massive Azovstal steelworks for months. Here's a recap of what you need to know.

Who has managed to escape?

A total of 127 people have been evacuated - a group of 69 civilians, who had been hiding under the port city's steelworks plant, finally left the site on Sunday after intense negotiations involving the UN and Red Cross.

The civilians had been trapped for weeks in a vast network of underground tunnels with diminishing supplies, amid intense bombardment from Russian forces.

Another 58 civilians from the Mariupol area were also evacuated on the bus convoy to Zaporizhzhia.

Where have they been staying?

The bunker system where civilians and fighters have been sheltering beneath the steel plant was originally built by Soviet authorities in 1930.

Some of the 36 bunkers were made to withstand a direct nuclear strike, with a network of tunnels, eight meters underground, also set up at the plant.

Ukrainian fighters were given maps of the underground network and the plant was supplied with packages of food as Russia began to invade Ukraine.

Why does this evacuation matter?

It's the first time a humanitarian corridor has been successfully agreed to get civilians out of the Azovstal plant after repeated attempts to negotiate their safe release ended in failure.

But for the hundreds of civilians who remain trapped inside, it's still not clear when or if they will be able to make it out. After the group of evacuees left on Sunday, fighters at the plant said Russian forces immediately resumed shelling of the site.

Image source, .

Laura Bicker
Reporting from Zaporizhzhia

Image source, Reuters

There were hugs and tears of exhaustion and relief as the group of women and children stepped out of the buses and into the sunshine.

For two months they had lived in the hidden depths of a steel plant in the city of Mariupol as Russian bombs pounded the site. The only supplies were rations handed down by Ukrainian solders. Every day Katarina tried to reassure her two children aged, six and 11 that everything would be OK – even when she didn’t believe it herself.

“From the morning and during the night we were bombarded. Artillery, rockets, air strikes. Our children couldn’t sleep. They were crying. They were scared. And us as well."

“There were several times when we were losing hope that we would ever get out. We are extremely glad to be in Ukraine."

Irene had her 17-year-old daughter by her side. And found that, at least, was some comfort.

“We lived in hope that every day would be the last day in this hell. That we would go home to a peaceful Mariupol, but now it is non existent.”

The operation carried out by the United Nations and the Red Cross has been complex and at times dangerous. UN staff on the ground found the area littered with land mines and at one point had to pull back after an artillery strike. They rescued 101 people – a rare moment of progress for humanitarian efforts in this war. But hundreds more are still stuck in the maze-like tunnels under the plant.

At the evacuation centre, the children grab a toy, some clothes and then a bowl of soup. Finally, they have fresh food and a little hope.

Lives have been saved today. But many more hang in the balance.

Some news now of an attack in the area north of Mariupol. At least ten people are dead and 15 wounded after an attack on the Avdiivka Coke Plant, says Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Kyrylenko said on a social media post that workers were waiting at bus stops outside the factory after their shifts as the shelling began.

"The Russians knew exactly where they were aiming," he added.

The Avdiivka Coke Plant is in eastern Ukraine, to where Russia has shifted most of the focus of its war operation.

• Donbas: Why Russia is trying to encircle Ukraine's east

Back to that telephone call between Presidents Macron of France and Putin of Russia, which took place earlier today.

Emmanuel Macron's office has just released a statement, saying that in the call the French leader underlined once again "the extreme gravity of the consequences of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine" and renewed his demand for a ceasefire.

Macron also expressed his concern about the situation in Donbas and Mariupol and called on Russia to allow evacuations from the Azovstal plant to continue, the French president's office said.

He called on Russia "to live up to its responsibilities as a permanent member of the Security Council by putting an end to this devastating aggression" the statement said.

Macron has faced some criticism for his efforts to keep dialogue open with the Kremlin, engaging in many hours of telephone calls with Vladimir Putin since the invasion began.

The French president had spoken to Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky at the weekend.

Speaking about the operation to evacuate civilians from the Mariupol steel works, the head of the Ukraine delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says he's pleased it's a success, but it's frustrating not being able to help more people.

Pascal Hundt says the evacuees left a place that was "hell".

"You can imagine the situation they endured for many weeks, and as they told us, it was just terrible.

"The testimonies we have recieved are just heart-breaking. Nonetheless, we managed to help and facilitate the safe passage of a few."

The port city of Mariupol has endured intense shelling by Russian forces for weeks, destroying many residential buildings.

Like many others, 64-year-old Tatyana has lost her home, and says she has nowhere else to go.

A little earlier we brought you news that the presidents of France and Russia were taking part in a phone call - their first since 29 March.

The Kremlin has issued some comments which are being reported by Russian state media.

Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart that the West is "ignoring Ukrainian war crimes", the Kremlin said.

The Kremlin also said that the West must stop supplying arms to Ukraine and that Kyiv is not taking talks to end the conflict seriously, in remarks reported by AFP.

Putin has previously made unfounded claims that Ukraine is committing war crimes after Russia's invasion.

Russian forces have been accused of carrying out atrocities, including at Bucha.

• What is a war crime and could Putin be prosecuted over Ukraine?

You can read about the weapons the US, among western countries, has sent to Ukraine here. And you can see the plans the UK has to supply them here.

More than 100 civilians have arrived on buses in the Ukraine-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia.

Many of them were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant. The arrivals include families, elderly people and children.

Image source, Reuters

Hospitals have been stocked up and supported by volunteers in preparation for the arrival of evacuees from the Azovstal steel plant, Dr Dorit Nizan, World Health Organization incident manager for Ukraine, says.

"We are ready for burns, fractures and wounds, as well as diarrhoea, respiratory infections," Reuters reported Nizan as saying.

"We are also ready to see if there are pregnant women, children with malnutrition - we are all here and the health system is well prepared," she says.

Some people had already arrived in Zaporizhzhia after making their own way from villages near Mariupol and had minor injuries. She says mental health is the "big issue".

"Many cried when they arrived when they were met by family members. It was very moving," she says.

We're starting to get a clearer idea of the number of people who have been evacuated from Mariupol and its steelworks in today's operation.

The BBC understands that a total of 127 people have arrived in Zaporizhzhia today, in an area which is under Ukrainian control.

Sixty-nine of them are civilians who were evacuated from the Azovstal plant and another 58 further evacuees from the Mariupol area joined the bus convoy to travel to Ukrainian-held territory.

The United Nations says that 101 people were evacuated from the Azovstal plant - including 17 children, one of them aged just six months. Thirty-two stayed behind in Mariupol.

Back at the Azovstal steelworks plant in Mariupol, a Ukrainian military commander says Russian forces have launched another offensive.

"A powerful assault on the territory of the Azovstal plant is under way with support from armoured vehicles and tanks," Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of Ukraine's Azov military unit said in a statement on social media.

He says Russian forces are attempting "to land a large number of infantry by boat".

The plant is the last hold-out of the Ukrainian defenders in the port city. Check out the geography of the sprawling industrial complex below.

Image source, .

As we've been reporting, the first evacuees from Azovstal have arrived in Zaporizhzhia after spending weeks in bunkers beneath the Mariupol industrial plant.

Here are some pictures of their arrival.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Laura Bicker
Reporting from Zaporizhzhia

Moments ago, we reported that evacuees from the Azovstal steelworks have now arrived in Zaporizhzhia after being rescued on Sunday.

But speaking before they arrived, Ukraine‘s deputy prime minister said hundreds of civilians, including more than a dozen children, remain trapped under the rubble of the steel plant in Mariupol.

Iryna Vereshchuk told reporters in Zaporizhzhia that aid workers had asked for more time to get people out from tunnels in the basement of the site where they sought refuge from Russian bombs, but the request was denied.

She said the deal to rescue civilians had been brokered by the United Nations and the Red Cross last week, and she wanted to bow down to those who had helped free these people.

The deputy prime minister said that from tomorrow they will renew their calls to keep this humanitarian corridor open.

She said Ukraine will not leave anyone behind, including wounded servicemen.

Image source, Reuters

Footage is emerging of the first evacuees from the Azovstal steelworks arriving in Zaporizhzhia after spending more than 60 days underneath the besieged Mariupol plant.

A convoy of white buses has arrived carrying civilians, including families, elderly people and children, who disembarked with the help of Ukrainian police.

Some of the refugees could be seen weeping as they arrived, and an elderly man was helped from one bus into a wheelchair by Red Cross workers who, along with UN humanitarian aid workers, are assisting civilians.

Image source, Reuters

And now, our correspondent in Zaporizhzhia, Laura Bicker, says some 156 evacuees from Mariupol have arrived.

About 100 of them - many of them women and children - have escaped from the Azovstal steelworks.

About 101 people have been successfully evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant, a UN humanitarian official has confirmed.

They said most of the evacuees were in Zaporizhzhia, where they are receiving humanitarian assistance.

"Thanks to the operation, 101 women, men, children, andolder persons could finally leave the bunkers below the Azovstalsteelworks and see the daylight after two months," OsnatLubrani, UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, also involved in the safe passage operation, also confirmed people from the Mariupol plant area had reached Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday.

Among them were some wounded, it said in a statement.

Image source, Reuters

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is asking for a ceasefire in Ukraine and is urging Kyiv and Moscow to engage in peace talks.

Modi, currently on a visit to Copenhagen to meet his Danish counterpart, says India wants "an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and for the adoption of dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the problem".

India has been criticised for its neutral stance on the conflict.

Image source, Reuters

We've been reporting that Russia has resumed its attack on the Azovstal industrial complex following a ceasefire which allowed hundreds of civilians to be removed.

According to the RIA news agency, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that Russian troops started shelling the steel plant in Mariupol after Ukrainian soldiers moved into firing positions.

As the ceasefire was declared, "Azov and Ukrainian servicemen, who are stationed on the plant, took advantage of it. They came out of the basement, they took up firing positions on the territory and in the factory buildings".

"Now units of the Russian army and the Donetsk People's Republic, using artillery and aviation, are beginning to destroy these firing positions," the ministry told the RIA news agency.