The buses with evacuees from the northeastern city of Sumy are now on the road and heading to the central city of Poltava, the Ukrainian authorities say. Their movement was briefly stopped because of shooting when they were crossing the Ukrainian checkpoint.

Russian military vehicles showed up at that moment and opened sporadic fire but it was not aimed at the buses, the head of Sumy administration Dmytro Zhyvytskiy said. The Russian column of armoured vehicles quickly left the area, he added.

It is not clear whether anyone was hurt.

In Sumy, however, people are struggling to get to the meeting point for evacuations - it's on the outskirts of the city.

The BBC spoke to Andrey, who lives in the centre, has two children, and no means of transportation.

In a desperate attempt, he is going to cycle with his kids to reach the area where some buses are still waiting to evacuate people.

He is worried that he is running out of time before the ceasefire ends tonight.

(Source: BBC)