Fighting reaches central Mariupol as shelling hinders rescue attempts

Fighting has reached the centre of the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, as attempts to rescue people trapped under the rubble of a bombed-out theatre were again hampered by Russian shelling.

More than 350,000 civilians have been stranded with little food or water in Mariupol, which was under constant bombardment on Friday. Officials say that over 1,000 people may have been taking refuge in a bomb shelter underneath a theatre that was struck on Wednesday.

Anna, a 30-year-old photographer, managed to flee Mariupol on Tuesday, making it to the nearby town of Berdyansk, in a car whose windows had been smashed during Russian shelling.

Ukrainian officials said they had shot down a further four missiles launched in the attack, the second on facilities near the historic city in recent days. The strikes raised the spectre of Ukraine losing what has so far been a relative haven and hub for refugees and humanitarian aid.

There were also reports of mass casualties after a missile attack on a Ukrainian army barracks in the southern city of Mykolaiv.

Shells were also said to have struck the eastern city of Kramatorsk, killing two people and wounding six.

One person was killed and four others wounded after parts of a Russian missile fell on a residential building in the northern part of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Emergency services said 12 people had been rescued and 98 evacuated from the five-storey block.

The attack near Lviv, where there were no reported casualties, will be a cause for concern for refugees and humanitarian agencies working in the city.

Russia has in recent days accused the west of exacerbating the war by supplying military aid via the western border, claiming such efforts were a legitimate military target.

James Heappey, a UK defence minister, said the attacks would not stand in the way of the British government and its allies from arming the Ukrainian forces.

Lviv, a Unesco world heritage site, had been largely untouched by bombings until Friday, although many of its 700,000 inhabitants had feared an attack was a matter of time.

The developments followed accusations from the US, UK and EU that Russia was committing war crimes in Ukraine, while the French government accused Putin of pretending to be interested in a negotiated peace.