Ukraine evacuates 50 civilians from Mariupol's Azovstal

Kyiv: Ukraine evacuated 50 civilians from the Azovstal plant in the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said.

"The evacuation was extremely slow. However, today we managed to free 50 women, children and the elderly from Azovstal," Vereshchuk wrote on Facebook on Friday.

The evacuation will continue on Saturday morning, Vereshchuk was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Earlier in the day, Ukraine's Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak said that Ukraine had evacuated about 500 civilians from Mariupol.

Mariupol, a key Azov Sea port city in eastern Ukraine, saw one of the worst bouts of violence in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.