After weeks of siege, dozens of civilians from Mariupol have been evacuated to Russia-controlled and Ukraine-controlled territory.
Some Ukrainian troops have evacuated the Azovstal steelworks, the city's last stronghold.
Hundreds of civilians have arrived in a Russian-controlled hamlet, according to the Russian government.
A sizable party is also heading to Zaporizhzhia, which Ukraine controls, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He tweeted that "the first wave of roughly 100 persons is already heading to the controlled area." "We'll meet in Zaporizhzhia tomorrow [Monday]. We owe a debt of gratitude to our colleagues. They are now collaborating with the United Nations to evacuate more individuals from the site."
On Saturday, the UN acknowledged that a "safe passage operation" to evacuate the citizens had begun, with the Red Cross as a partner.The UN claimed the evacuation convoy arrived on Saturday morning, but declined to identify where people were being transferred or how many had gone, citing the risk of jeopardizing the operation's safety.
Civilians, mostly women and children, are helped to climb across piles of rubble and board a bus with broken windows, according to Reuters footage from the complex.
They had been confined in the steelworks for two months, according to a woman with a six-month-old kid. They were out of food, according to another, older woman.
Russian firing on the steel complex resumed following a brief ceasefire on Sunday, according to Ukrainian officials.
'You have no idea how difficult it has been for us.'
Reuters quoted Denys Shleha of Ukraine's National Guard as stating on Sunday that while dozens had been freed, several hundred civilians, including children, remain trapped in the bunkers. To get everyone out, he continued, at least two more evacuation efforts like this will be required.
"You really can't comprehend what we have gone through – the terror," one of the evacuees to Russian-held area told Reuters news agency.
"I was terrified that the bunker might collapse," Natalia Usmanova, 37, said. "I was distraught when the bunker began to tremble, as my spouse will attest: I was so worried the bunker would cave in."
"It's been a while since we've seen the sun."On Saturday, the first civilians were able to leave the Azovstal plant, but their fate was unknown for the rest of the day.
Now, the Russian defense ministry claims that 80 residents have been evacuated from the besieged steelworks and are being transported to Bezimenne, a village in Russian-controlled Ukraine. Medical care and supplies are being provided, according to the statement.
The ministry also announced that residents who wanted to flee for Ukraine-controlled areas "had been handed over to representatives of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross," according to Russian media.
According to the Reuters news agency, one of its photographers stationed in the village saw more than 50 people come in a vehicle and that UN personnel were in the vicinity.
For weeks, Russian artillery has been shelling Mariupol.The Azovstal steelworks, where Ukraine's final defenders are holed up with several remaining civilians, is a massive industrial complex with a network of underground tunnels, making Russian forces' capture impossible.
Following the announcement that the city of Donetsk in southern Ukraine had been taken, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his soldiers to shut off the steelworks "such that a fly cannot pass through."
Mariupol has been hit hard by the battle, with much of the city reduced to ruins and a massive humanitarian disaster. Residents fleeing the area have complained about a scarcity of food and water, as well as the bodies of the deceased being left in the streets.
"The inhabitants who left the city think that hell exists and it's in Mariupol," Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko told the BBC on Saturday.
The conflict-torn steelworks remain the focus of attention now that the majority of the city is under Russian control.
Mariupol officials indicated that evacuations from regions of the city other than the Avozstal industrial site had been put on hold until Monday am, shortly after word of the larger evacuation project broke.
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