Evacuation begins at Mariupol plant

More than 50 civilians were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Saturday after a cease-fire was introduced.

Captain Svyatoslav Palamar, the deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, said the cease-fire, which was supposed to begin at 6 am local time, started instead at 11 am.

"We hope that this process will be further extended and we will successfully evacuate all civilians," he said.

Russia said 46 civilians had left the area near the Azovstal plant on Saturday.

Mariupol is the largest Ukrainian city on the Sea of Azov, one of the key metallurgical centers of the Donbass region and a seaport. The Azovstal steel plant was considered to be the last Ukrainian holdout in Mariupol.

There are thought to be hundreds of people inside the steel complex, including dozens injured during an intense Russian bombardment over the past several weeks. The latest satellite images show that many of the plant's buildings have been reduced to rubble.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday and reaffirmed his willingness to work actively during his second term of office "to restore the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine".

An Elysee Palace statement said Macron expressed concern about the continued bombing of Ukrainian cities and the "unbearable" situation in Mariupol.

The phone call was made as actress Angelina Jolie, who is also a United Nations special envoy for refugees, visited a boarding school and medical institution in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

The UN Refugee Agency's head of global communications, Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, told CNN on Saturday that Jolie "is traveling to the region in her personal capacity and (the UN High Commissioner for Refugees) has no involvement" in the visit.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Yermakov, the head of nuclear nonproliferation for Russia's Foreign Ministry, was quoted by Russian news agency Tass as saying on Saturday that dialogue between Moscow and Washington on strategic stability is formally "frozen".

Yermakov said those contacts could be resumed once Russia completes what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

He said Moscow believed the United States intended to finalize projects to deploy medium- and short-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

"The emergence of such weapons in those regions will further worsen the situation and fuel the arms race," he said.

Yermakov also said that the risks of nuclear war should be kept to a minimum and any armed conflict between nuclear powers should be prevented.

Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for Russia's defense ministry, said Russian aircraft struck five Ukrainian ammunition depots on Saturday.

Agencies contributed to this story.