UN works to get civilians out of ruined city

Ukrainian forces fought village by village Saturday, local time, to hold back a Russian advance through the country’s east, while the United Nations worked to broker a civilian evacuation from the last defensive stronghold in the bombed-out ruins of the port city of Mariupol.

An estimated 100,000 civilians remain in the city, and up to 1000 are living beneath a sprawling Soviet-era steel plant, according to Ukrainian officials.

Russian state media outlets reported Saturday that 25 civilians had been evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks, though there was no confirmation from the UN. Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency said 19 adults and six children were brought out, but gave no further details.

A top official with the Azov Regiment, the Ukrainian unit defending the plant, said 20 civilians were evacuated during a ceasefire, though it was not clear if he was referring to the same group as the Russian news reports.

‘‘These are women and children,’’ Sviatoslav Palamar said in a video posted on the regiment’s Telegram channel. He also called for the evacuation of the wounded.

In his nightly video address late Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy switched into Russian to urge Russian troops not to fight in Ukraine, saying even their generals expect that thousands more of them will die. The president accused Moscow of recruiting new soldiers ‘‘with little motivation and little combat experience’’ so that units gutted early in the war can be thrown back into battle.

‘‘Every Russian soldier can still save his own life,’’ Zelenskyy said. ‘‘It’s better for you to survive in Russia than to perish on our land.’’

■ Ukrainian Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotsky said that Russian forces have seized hundreds of thousands of tons of grain in territory under their control. Ukraine is a major grain producer, and the invasion has pushed up world prices and raised concerns about shortages.

■ A Russian rocket attack destroyed the airport runway in Odesa, Ukraine’s third-most populous city and a key Black Sea port, the Ukrainian army said.

■ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators talk ‘‘almost every day.’’ However, he told Chinese state news agency Xinhua, ‘‘progress has not been easy’’.

■ Two buses sent to evacuate residents from the eastern town of Popasna were fired upon, and contact with the organisers was lost, Mayor Nikolai Khanatov said.

■ Actress and film-maker Angelina Jolie made a surprise trip to the western Ukrainian city on Saturday, in support of Ukraine more than two months into the Russian invasion. Jolie, an Academy Award winner who has been a UN special envoy for refugees since 2012, spent time visiting with children and volunteers at a medical facility, Lviv’s regional governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, wrote on Telegram. – AP, Washington Post