UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday welcomed the safe evacuation of civilians from a steel plant in Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

"I am pleased that more than 100 civilians have successfully been evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, in an operation successfully coordinated by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross," the top UN official said in a statement.

"I hope the continued coordination with Kyiv and Moscow will lead to more humanitarian pauses that will allow civilians safe passage away from the fighting and aid to reach people where the needs are greatest," Guterres said.

Both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries said on Monday that over 100 people had been evacuated from the besieged city, news reports said.

The Russian Defence Ministry on Monday released footage showing civilians evacuated from Azovstal arriving in Bezymenne in the Donetsk region.

(With input from Xinhua)