Kyiv – Russian on Sunday accused Ukraine of shelling its own civilians, killing and injuring them in the southern region of Kherson. Some women and children were evacuated from a steel plant in the port city of Mariupol, a Ukrainian official and Russian state news organizations said.

Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine's forces shelled a school, kindergarten and cemetery in the villages of Kyselivka and Shyroka Balka in the Kherson region, the Russian RIA news agency said on Sunday.

A group of about 20 civilians left the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, the final part of the southern city still in the hands of Ukrainian troops.

U.N. humanitarian spokesperson Saviano Abreu said the world organization was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv, but he could not provide details of the ongoing evacuation effort “because of the complexity and fluidity of the operation.”

Ukraine blamed the failure of previous evacuation attempts on continued Russian shelling.

Russian forces captured the town of Kherson, giving them a foothold just 100 km north of Russian-annexed Crimea, and have mostly occupied Mariupol, the strategic eastern port city on the Azov Sea.

Russia's control of Kherson will help sustain its advances to the north and west and improve its control of Crimea, British military intelligence said in a Twitter update.

A prisoner exchange saw the return of 14 Ukrainians - including one soldier who is five months pregnant - for an unknown number of Russian captives.

The Russian defence ministry said it had hit 17 military targets in Ukraine on Saturday with missiles and air strikes, killing more than 200 Ukrainians along with 23 armoured vehicles and other military equipment.
-Reuters/Ap/BBC