Officials report that Russia and Ukraine have reached an agreement to ceasefire in order to evacuate two cities, but attacks are still ongoing.

• The ceasefire agreement covering Mariupol and Volnovakha has been violated by Russia, according to Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine's deputy prime minister.
• On Saturday, Ukraine and Russia reached a partial ceasefire agreement to enable civilians to evacuate from the two cities.
• Despite the scheduled stoppage of fighting at 10 a.m. Moscow time (2 a.m. ET), there have been reports of ongoing attacks.

The fragile ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, aimed at allowing citizens to evacuate two war-torn cities, is being threatened as Ukrainian officials report continued shelling.

On Saturday, Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine's deputy prime minister, stated that Russia had breached the ceasefire agreement, which applied to the cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha.

She stated in a Telegram video that Russian troops began shelling Volnovakha with heavy weapons at approximately midday local time.

She stated that Russia had breached the ceasefire agreement, failed to fulfill its obligations, and shelled the town of Volnovaksha, as reported by NBC News. Additionally, there have been clashes in the direction between Mariupol and Zaporizhia.

Evacuation suspended

On Saturday, Ukraine and Russia reached a partial ceasefire agreement to enable civilians to evacuate Mariupol and Volnovakha. The fighting was supposed to halt at 10 a.m. Moscow time (2 a.m. ET), but numerous reports indicate that attacks have continued beyond that time.

Russia is "obstructing" the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol, according to Ukraine's Parliament.

The Russian military is not following the ceasefire and is still shelling Mariupol and its surroundings. As a result, the evacuation of civilians has been halted for security reasons.

The Mariupol City Council stated that Russian forces continued to shell the city and that the evacuation of residents had been postponed.

The council announced on Telegram that the evacuation of the population has been postponed due to the Russian side's failure to adhere to the ceasefire and continued shelling of Mariupol and its surroundings. Residents were advised to return to a place of safety.

Talks are ongoing with the Russian Federation to set up a ceasefire and create a safe humanitarian route.

The council anticipated the ceasefire to endure from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time and intended to transport residents to Zaporizhzhia, a city in the west, on municipal buses.

Mariupol and Volnovakha

Over recent days, some of the most intense fighting in Ukraine has occurred in the two cities.

The strategic location of these targets, in Ukraine's southeast corner near the Russian border and Crimea, makes them vulnerable to attack by Moscow. If they were captured, Russia's troops could unite with those in Crimea, a peninsula that Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.

Mariupol is a port city, on the Sea of Azov.

Both cities are situated in Donetsk, one of the two Ukrainian regions that Russia recognized as independent prior to its invasion of Ukraine.

Outside of the cities, Russia’s violent invasion of Ukraine continues.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced that its "offensive operations" were ongoing in other parts of the country, along with the details of the ceasefire.

Despite ongoing attacks from Russian forces on many of Ukraine's major cities, including Kyiv, a large Russian military convoy heading towards Kyiv has reportedly stopped in recent days due to logistical issues and shortages of food and fuel.

The situation in Ukraine is highly unstable, and it is challenging to confirm information from individual sources.