An aide to Mariupol’s mayor says buses carrying civilians have left the city as evacuation efforts continue there, writes Al Jazeera.

It was not immediately clear how many people had been evacuated on the buses, but those on board were not from the Azovstal steelworks.

Hundreds of people remained trapped in the Soviet-era facility, which is the last stronghold of resistance to Moscow’s siege on the city.

A first group of evacuees from the steelworks was due to arrive in Zaporizhzhia, a Ukrainian-held city northwest of Mariupol, on Monday morning. But Russian forces had resumed shelling the steelworks on Sunday as soon as the convoy of evacuees had left the plant, the mayor’s aide said.