KYIV — The humanitarian situation was deteriorating in
besieged Ukrainian cities under relentless Russian bombardment on Sunday, as
Kyiv called on Moscow's ally Beijing to "condemn Russian barbarism".
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In an apparent escalation of the conflict, Moscow on
Saturday claimed it had used hypersonic missiles in
Ukraine in what would be
the first combat use of the next-generation weapons.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from besieged cities
but Russian shelling was blocking efforts to deliver humanitarian supplies,
President
Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.
Aid agencies have warned they are struggling to reach
hundreds of thousands of people trapped by the invading Russian forces.
A total of 6,623 people were evacuated on Saturday along
humanitarian corridors, including 4,000 from the devastated southern city of
Mariupol, Zelensky said in his latest video address.
Russia said Saturday its forces had broken through the
defenses of the besieged port and were now inside the war-torn city, which has
been under relentless bombardment.
Zelensky said the siege of Mariupol would go down in history
as a war crime.
"To do such a thing to a peaceful city, what the
occupiers have done, this is a terror that will be remembered even in the next
century," he said.
Russian shelling also heavily damaged the Azovstal
metallurgical plant in Mariupol, one of the largest in
Europe, Ukrainian
officials said.
"The economic losses for Ukraine are immense,"
tweeted lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko, who posted a video showing thick columns of
smoke rising from an industrial complex.
In Mariupol, rescuers were still searching for hundreds of
people trapped under the wreckage of a bombed theatre where more than 1,000
people had been seeking shelter when it was struck on Wednesday.
Dire situation
Aid agencies are struggling to reach people trapped in
cities ringed by Russian forces, the UN's
World Food Program said Saturday,
including hundreds of thousands of women and children.
"The challenge is to get to the cities that are
encircled or about to be encircled," emergency coordinator Jakob Kern told
AFP, describing the situation as "dire".
More than 3.3 million refugees have fled Ukraine, but many
people have remained trapped, including "hundreds of thousands of women and
children. They cannot come out and we cannot reach them," he added.
In western Ukraine, Russia claimed Saturday it had used
Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missiles to destroy an arms depot.
Military analyst
Pavel Felgenhauer however suggested the use
of the missiles would change little on the ground.
"Fundamentally this does not change anything on the
battlefield, but it gives a certain psychological and propaganda effect to
scare everyone," he told AFP.
Despite their progress entering the center of Mariupol,
Russian forces have met fierce resistance and been stalled outside Kyiv and
several other cities in the east, making them vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks
against supply lines.
Appeal for peace
Zelensky on Saturday again appealed for peace, urging Russia
to accept "meaningful" talks.
"This is the time to meet, to talk, time for renewing
territorial integrity and fairness for Ukraine," he said in a video posted
on social media.
But as in previous negotiations there appeared to be little
progress in reaching a ceasefire.
Russia carried out air raids on the southern city of
Mykolaiv in quick succession Saturday, Vitaly Kim, head of the regional
administration, said, a day after a deadly strike on a military barracks there.
Less than 100km to the southeast, Ukraine claimed that a
Russian general had been killed by strikes on an airfield outside Kherson, just
north of Crimea. Ukraine said he was the fifth top-ranking officer killed since
the invasion began on February 24.
Appeals to China
With no apparent progress in talks with Moscow, Ukraine
called on Beijing to join the West in condemning the Russian invasion, which it
has so far refused.
China could play an important role in global security, top
Zelensky advisor Mikhailo Podolyak tweeted Saturday, "if it makes a right
decision to support the civilized countries' coalition and condemn Russian
barbarism."
US President
Joe Biden warned his Chinese counterpart Xi
Jinping on Friday of "consequences" for any financial or military aid
for Russia, a move that could turn the standoff into a global confrontation.
Xi said the war was "in no one's interest," but
showed no sign of giving in to the pressure to join Western condemnation of
Russia.
In New Delhi, Japanese Prime Minister
Fumio Kishida on
Saturday urged India to take a tougher line on Russia's invasion.
But his counterpart Narendra Modi made no direct mention of
Ukraine and their joint written statement afterwards called only "for an
immediate cessation of violence".
Australia meanwhile Sunday announced more sanctions against
Russia, immediately banning all exports of alumina and bauxite while pledging
more weapons and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.
The export ban aims to impact aluminium production in
Russia, which relies on Australia for 20 percent of its alumina.
Putin so far appears undeterred by threats and sanctions,
holding a triumphalist rally in Moscow on Friday to mark eight years since
Russia's seizure of Crimea, saying his goal in Ukraine was "to rid these
people from their suffering and genocide."
Russia wants Ukraine to disarm and disavow all Western
alliances, in particular to renounce joining NATO or to seek closer integration
with the
European Union — steps that Kyiv says would turn it into a vassal
state of Moscow.
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