A Donetsk People's Republic forces leader announced the first meeting between representatives of the Russian army and the besieged Ukrainian forces inside the Azovstal factory in Mariupol since the start of the conflict.

The commander of the "Vostok" battalion of Donetsk Republic forces, Alexander Khodakovsky, said on his channel on "Telegram" today, Saturday, "A group of troops carrying a white flag went out to a road leading from the bridge where the evacuees have received civilians into the Azovstal complex."

Khodakovsky indicated that a group of Russian military personnel went as negotiators to meet with them, stressing it was "the first personal contact since the start of the Mariupol siege" between the two parties in the conflict.

On the ground, the Ukrainian authorities reported that Russia targeted the port city of Odesa in the south. In contrast, the Ukrainian governor of Sumy reported that the two sites in the city were subjected to Russian missile attacks.

Before that, the Russian Defense Ministry reported the destruction of American and European weapons and equipment by bombing in the Kharkiv region, while 18 Ukrainian military sites were targeted last night, including three ammunition depots near Odesa.

The British Ministry of Defense stated that the conflict in Ukraine is taking a heavy toll on some of Russia's most advanced and capable units. It added that at least one T-90M tank, the most advanced in Russia, was destroyed during the fighting.

About 100 T-90M tanks are in service among the best-equipped Russian units, including those fighting in Ukraine.

Forces loyal to the Russian army continue their operations in the vicinity of the Azovstal factory, where the Ukrainian forces are holed up in the city of Mariupol. Tanks and heavy artillery are deployed to penetrate the defenses of the Ukrainian forces inside the besieged factory.

Russian Defense Ministry announced that "Nazi formations" and Kyiv forces are preparing provocations in an area where chemical industries are concentrated in Donbas, southeast of Ukraine, "at the direction of their sponsors in the United States and Britain."

Head of the Russian National Defense Control Center Lieutenant-General Mikhail Mezintsev said, "At the sites of the "Azot" company in Severodonetsk, Luhansk People's Republic, they have deployed heavy weapons, where they are holding more than a thousand factory workers and civilians as human shields, and at the same time the "Nazis" are systematically bombing the towns of Pervomaisk Stakhanov, and Kalinov, to provoke the Russian forces to respond, aiming to accuse the Russian army of killing civilians and causing a disaster."

On the ground, the President of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, announced that the Kyiv forces had thwarted an attempt to launch a counterattack in the village of Voivodovka in Lugansk, inflicting heavy human and material losses on the attackers and destroying their command center.

The spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, announced that Russian defenses had shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 plane and intercepted two Ukrainian "Smerch" missiles targeting the city of Izum in the Kharkiv province.

In humanitarian terms, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the evacuation of hundreds of civilians from the city of Mariupol in the Donbas region and its surrounding areas during a humanitarian operation carried out in coordination between Russia and Ukraine.

Guterres said on his Twitter account yesterday, Friday, that two convoys evacuated about 500 people from Mariupol, especially the Azovstal steel plant, which is still the last stronghold of the Ukrainian forces, and the areas surrounding this city, within the framework of a successful operation carried out by the United Nations in cooperation with the Committee.

"I hope that continued coordination between Moscow and Kyiv will lead to more humanitarian pauses to provide a safe passage for civilians," he added.

Since the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Mariupol, the largest city overlooking the Sea of Azov, has witnessed fierce battles during which the forces of Russia and the Donetsk People's Republic managed to control the entire city, except for the Azovstal plant.

Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of violating a ceasefire today aimed at evacuating dozens of civilians trapped underground in the bombed steel plant after fighting thwarted efforts to rescue them the day before.