Ukraine morning briefing: Five developments as civilians are evacuated from besieged steelworks

Good morning. A group of 20 civilians are leaving the Azovstal steelworks, where the last Ukrainian troops are holed up in the Black Sea port of Mariupol, the soldiers there said on Saturday.

"Twenty civilians, women and children... have been transferred to a suitable place and we hope that they will be evacuated to Zaporizhzhia, on territory controlled by Ukraine," said Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov regiment.

Earlier on Saturday, a correspondent from Russia's TASS news agency reported from the city that 25 civilians - including six children younger than 14 - had quit the site.

"All night, the enemy artillery bombarded the site," deputy commander Palamar added.

"The ceasefire that should have started at 6:00 am (3am GMT) didn't start until 11:00 am. Since then, the two sides have respected it," he added.

"The evacuation convoy we had been expecting at 6:00 am only arrived at 6:25 pm

Here's what happened overnight.

1. Angelina Jolie's Lviv trip interrupted by air-raid sirens

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie visited the Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday, going to the railway station near Kramatorsk to meet people displaced by the war with Russia.

However, the 46-year-old humanitarian was forced to leave after air-raid sirens sounded in the city.

Jolie is a special envoy for the United Nations refugee agency, which says more than 12.7 million people have fled their homes in the past two months, which represents around 30 per cent of Ukraine's pre-war population.

Actress Angelina Jolie meets with volunteers during a visit to Lviv's main railway station - Reuters

2. Russia claims civilians killed in shelling by Ukraine near Kherson

Russia's defence ministry claimed civilians have been killed and injured following shelling by Ukrainian forces in villages in the Kherson region, the Russian RIA news agency reported early on Sunday.

The ministry claimed Ukrainian forces shelled a school, a kindergarten and a cemetery in the villages of Kyselivka and Shyroka Balka.

No information was provided on how many people were killed or injured, or when the shelling took place.

There was no immediate response from Ukraine to the report.

3. Kherson to introduce Russian rouble from Sunday, says MoD

The pro-Russian administration of Kherson will introduce the Russian rouble into the local economy from Sunday as it looks to phase out the Ukrainian hryvnia, the Ministry of Defence said.

The administration announced it will embark on a four-month transition from the Ukrainian hryvnia to the Russian rouble as it declared that a return to Ukrainian control would be “impossible”.

“These statements are likely indicative of Russian intent to exert strong political and economic influence in Kherson over the long term,” said the UK Ministry of Defence.

“Enduring control over Kherson and its transport links will increase Russia’s ability to sustain its advance to the north and west and improve the security of Russia’s control over Crimea.”

Kherson was the first Ukrainian city to fall to Russian since the invasion began on Feb 24.

A Russian ruble coin is pictured in front of the Kremlin in central Moscow, on April 28, 2022. - A Russian official said Thursday that the ruble will soon be introduced in areas of Ukraine under Moscow's control, despite Russia earlier insisting it was not seeking to occupy captured territory. A civilian and military administrator of the Russian-controlled region of Kherson in southern Ukraine said Moscow would introduce its currency in the region within the coming days. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP) (Photo by ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images) - Alexander NEMENOV / AFP) (Photo by ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images

4. Volodymyr Zelensky urges Russian troops not to fight in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Russian soldiers not to fight in Ukraine as thousands of troops are expected to die.

The President switched into Russian in his nightly video address on Saturday to issue the warning, saying Russian commanders fully understood that thousands would die and thousands more would be injured in the coming weeks.

Mr Zelensky said Russia has been recruiting new troops "with little motivation and little combat experience" for the units that were gutted during the early weeks of the war, so they could be thrown back into battle.

"The Russian commanders are lying to their soldiers when they tell them they can expect to be held seriously responsible for refusing to fight and then also don't tell them, for example, that the Russian army is preparing additional refrigerator trucks for storing the bodies," he said.

"Every Russian soldier can still save his own life. It's better for you to survive in Russia than to perish on our land."

5. Russian missile strike destroys Odesa airport runway

A Russian missile strike on Saturday destroyed the newly-constructed runway at the main airport in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, a strategic Black Sea port, military and civilian officials said.

"The Odesa airport runway was destroyed. We will, of course, rebuild it. But Odesa will never forget Russia's behaviour towards it," Mr Zelensky said in his late night address.

Odesa regional governor Maksym Marchenko said Russia had used a Bastion missile, launched from Crimea.

"Thank God no one was hurt. Anti-sabotage measures are being carried out in the region," he said in a video posted online.