Ukrainian fighters under siege by Russian forces inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol have confirmed that a group of civilians managed to leave the site, the BBC reports.
The deputy commander of the Ukrainian Azov battalion, Sviatoslav Palamar, said that the group of 20 civilians - including women and children - had been transferred to an "appropriate place".
The BBC states that earlier Russian state media reported that 25 people had been evacuated. It is not clear where they were taken.
Moscow was under intense international pressure to allow the civilians to leave.
Hundreds of them are believed to be hiding in the factory - the last place controlled by Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol.
Moscow demanded that they surrender. Ukraine's military says Russian airstrikes have continued.
The bodies of three men were found in a pit near Bucha, Ukrainian police said, BBC reports.
The bodies were found Friday in a town near Kiev that has become synonymous with accusations of Russian war crimes.
"The hands of the victims were tied, their eyes were covered with cloths, and some had their mouths gagged. There are signs of torture on the corpses," according to a statement from the Kyiv Regional Police.
The BBC says it could not independently confirm this.
Moscow denied that crimes were committed in Buca, which was under the control of the 64th Motorized Brigade for more than a month at the beginning of the war.
Ukraine launched a hunt for 10 Russian soldiers accused of war crimes in Bucha.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he is more than ever committed to strengthening Ukraine, a spokesman for Johnson's office said after the two leaders spoke, Reuters reports.
"He confirmed that the UK will continue to provide additional military assistance to give the Ukrainians the equipment they need to defend themselves," the spokesman said, adding that Johnson also offered Britain's continued economic and humanitarian support.
Actress Angelina Jolie visited Ukraine and met with children affected by the conflict and local organizations that work to protect them.
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A Russian missile strike on an airport in the southwestern Ukrainian port of Odesa - a city that has so far been relatively unscathed in the war - damaged the runway and rendered it unusable, Ukraine's military said on Saturday.
The British agency states that Russia has sporadically targeted Odessa, a port on the Black Sea, and a week ago Ukraine announced that at least eight people had been killed in an attack on the city.
"As a result of the rocket attack in the Odesa region, the runway at the Odesa airport was damaged. Its further use is impossible," the Ukrainian army announced.
There was no word from the Russian military about the strike.
Regional Governor Maxim Marchenko announced on his Telegram account that a Russian missile destroyed the runway of the Odessa airport today, but that there were no casualties.
"Today, the enemy hit with a 'Bastion' missile fired from Crimea. The runway of the Odesa port airport was destroyed. Thank God there were no casualties," the governor said in the video, AFP news agency reported, according to Radio Free Europe (RSE). .
Odessa, on the Black Sea coast, is a key Black Sea port and the main base of the Ukrainian Navy. The city was the focus of Russian forces, because if captured, it would allow Moscow to build a land corridor to Transnistria.
Russian forces shelled this city at the beginning of the month.
The shelling of Odessa comes after a senior Russian official said Moscow plans to take full control of the Donbass region and southern Ukraine.
Kiev has mentioned that the Transnistrian region could be used to organize Russian operations against Ukraine and Moldova, which shares a border with NATO member Romania.
The Russian armed forces said today they hit 17 Ukrainian military facilities with high-precision missiles and destroyed a command post and a warehouse used to store missiles and artillery, reports Reuters.
In an online announcement, the Ministry of Defense also said that more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 23 armored vehicles were destroyed in air strikes during the day.
The post did not mention the attack on Odessa's airport, which the local governor said was hit by a Russian missile, knocking out the runway.
The Ukrainian military said today that Russian planes continued to carry out strikes on the besieged city of Mariupol, focusing on the Azovstal steel plant, which houses soldiers and civilians, reports Reuters.
In a Facebook post, the General Staff of the Armed Forces also said that the Ukrainian army had regained control of four settlements in the Kharkiv region.
The Russian missile attack on the airport in Odessa damaged the runway and it can no longer be used, the Ukrainian army announced today, reports Reuters.
A Danish citizen was killed in Ukraine, his family announced today, and this news was confirmed by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Danish public television TV2 reported on Thursday evening that a 25-year-old young man, engaged in the international legion with Ukrainian forces, has disappeared in Ukraine.
According to that television, the young man was part of a group of eight soldiers who participated in the fighting in the city of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday. Six soldiers died in those battles.
"Based on the available information, the family has identified the young man in question whom they consider dead," Danish ministry sources told Agence France-Presse, adding that they are in contact with the family of the fallen Dane.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has an obligation to maintain confidentiality and cannot provide more details, according to the letter to France Presse.
Shortly after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the formation of an "international legion" of foreign volunteers to help him defend Ukraine.
The Danish authorities then stated that they did not see any "legal obstacle" to the participation of Danish volunteers.
According to the Ukrainian embassy in Copenhagen, about 100 Danes joined Ukraine in mid-March to fight against Russian forces.
Ukraine has carried out a prisoner exchange with Russia, with seven soldiers and seven civilians returning home, Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said in an online post.
One of the soldiers was a woman who is five months pregnant, she added.
She did not say how many Russians were transferred.
The two countries have exchanged prisoners several times during the conflict that began with Russia's invasion on February 24, and on Thursday Ukraine said Russia had handed over 33 soldiers.
The governor of Russia's western Kursk region said that several shells were fired today at a checkpoint near its border from the direction of Ukraine.
Speaking in a video posted on his Telegram channel, Governor Roman Starovoit said there were no casualties or damage.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. There were no comments from Ukraine.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that more than a million people have been evacuated from Ukraine since the beginning of the war.
Among them are more than 300 Chinese, he said in an interview with the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
As the AP news agency writes, Lavrov did not offer evidence for these claims.
Ukraine has previously accused Moscow of forcibly removing Ukrainians from the country.
He added that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine continue almost every day, but that progress will not be easy.
He blamed "warlike rhetoric and incendiary actions of Western supporters of the regime in Kiev" for the stall in the negotiations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia announced that it clearly follows the understanding that a nuclear conflict is unacceptable, TASS reported, citing Reuters.
The bodies of three men whose hands were tied were found in a pit in the vicinity of Bucha - a town near Kiev, which has become synonymous with accusations of alleged war crimes by the Russian army, France Press reports.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a telephone conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskiy that France will strengthen military and humanitarian support for Ukraine, according to a press release from the French presidency, Reuters reports.
Ukraine has accused Russia of stealing several hundred thousand tons of grain from territory occupied by its forces.
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The Ukrainian General Staff announced on Twitter that around 23.200 Russian soldiers have been killed since the beginning of Russia's attack on this country.
It is added that so far 190 Russian planes, 155 helicopters and 1.008 tanks have been destroyed, as well as 2.445 armored vehicles, 436 cannons, 151 missile systems and 77 air defense systems.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its artillery units hit 389 Ukrainian targets overnight, including 35 checkpoints, 15 weapons and ammunition depots and several areas where Ukrainian troops and equipment are concentrated, Reuters reports, but added that it could not immediately verify. that report.
The Ministry of Defense added that Russian missiles hit four ammunition and fuel storage facilities
Russian air defense prevented a Ukrainian plane from entering the Bryansk district in the west of Russia, Russian media reported, referring to the words of the governor of this region, Alexander Bogomaz, as reported by Reuters.
It is added that as a result of the shelling, parts of the oil terminal and its surroundings were hit.
"There are no victims," RIA Bogomaza was quoted as saying by Reuters.
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