Russian forces have launched a fresh assault on Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, despite efforts to evacuate civilians trapped in a steel plant in the besieged city.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message released on Tuesday that 156 civilians have managed to evacuate from the Azovstal steel plant to the Ukraine-held city of Zaporizhzhia in the southeast.

One woman told reporters that words could not explain the horror of taking shelter in the building as it was shaken by attacks. She said she wondered if she would wake up again before going to sleep each night.

Russia's defense ministry said that attacks had been carried out by the Ukraine's Azov battalion, which remains in the steel plant. Russian forces reportedly bombarded the plant from the ground and air.
The deputy commander of the Azov battalion said on the messaging app Telegram that two women were killed and 10 civilians wounded.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said hundreds of civilians are still inside the plant.

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron talked with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by phone for the first time in about a month.

Macron urged Putin to allow the evacuations of civilians from the plant to continue.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said on Tuesday that its troops attacked surface-to-air missile systems, ammunition depots and US-made radar in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It added that its aircraft destroyed 39 other military facilities, including command posts.