The announcement that humanitarian corridors would be set up came after Friday's diplomatic talks, in which Ukraine and Russia agreed to evacuate civilians from war-torn areas.
Russia's Defense Ministry announced on Saturday morning that a temporary ceasefire would prevail around two cities - Mariupol and the nearby small town of Volnovakha.
The message was welcomed by Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boychenko, who for several days appealed for a safe escape route for residents.
The city has earlier this week been described as surrounded by Russian forces.
The fighting must also have resulted in extensive interruptions in both the electricity and water supply.
Mariupol is not streets and buildings, Mariupol is its inhabitants.
When our city is under constant ruthless attacks from the occupiers, there is no other solution than to let our citizens leave safely ", the mayor wrote in a statement before the evacuation.
Russia is said to have broken the ceasefire
At 10 o'clock, Swedish time, the city had collected buses to transport to nearby Zaporizhia.
However, the journey was short.
Just an hour later, Mariupol's city administration announced that the evacuation had been interrupted due to continued fighting, which was later confirmed by Ukraine's presidential staff.
At the same time, the city administration urged those who had begun the journey to return to their shelters, waiting for negotiations with the Russian side to yield results.
UNHCR requires more corridors
Both Médecins Sans Frontières and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have staff on site in Mariupol.
UNHCR announced before the evacuation that it welcomed the attempts to evacuate civilians.
At the same time, there is also an urgent need to establish corridors also for humanitarian aid operations, according to Karolina Lindholm Billing, who is the country responsible for Ukraine at the UNHCR.
- Talks are underway with all parties to get new corridors.
Our staff is now risking their lives to save others, she says in SVT's Morgonstudion and continues:
- The support that has come to organizations such as UNHCR from Sweden is absolutely enormous, so the resources are available if security allows us to reach them.