INTERNATIONAL: Dozens of civilians arrived at a temporary accommodation center on Sunday, after being evacuated from the bunkers of Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant after the United Nations and the International Red Cross led a deal to ease the ordeal of the most destructive siege of the war in Ukraine.

Russian forces pummeled the port city for nearly two months, turning Mariupol into a wasteland with an unknown death toll and thousands trying to survive without water, sanitation or food.

The city is under Russian control but some fighters and civilians have sheltered underground in the Azovstal works - a vast Soviet-era plant founded under Josef Stalin and designed with a labyrinth of bunkers and tunnels to withstand attack.

The United Nations later said that an operation to evacuate people from the steel works had been under way since Friday.

U.N. spokesperson Saviano Abreu said, the "U.N. confirms that a safe passage operation is ongoing in Azovstal steel plant, in coordination with the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) and the parties to the conflict.”

He added, "At this point, and as the operations are underway, we will not share further details, as it could jeopardize the safety of the civilians and the convoy.”

The ICRC said the convoy had travelled 230 kilometers to reach the steel works.

A Reuters photographer reported seeing civilians arriving in the village of Bezimenne in an area of Donetsk under the control of Russia-backed separatists around 30 km east of Mariupol. They were receiving refreshments and care after weeks of suffering.

Young children were among those evacuated from the plant - where people cowered underground, huddling together under blankets in the plant's bunkers and tunnels as the shelling tore their city apart.

^{PHOTO: CIVILIANS ARRIVING AT TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION CENTRE / UKRAINIAN MILITARY AT ACCOMMODATION CENTRE}