Lviv - Russian and Ukrainian forces fought for control of the port city of Mariupol on Sunday, local authorities said, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed to Israel for help pushing back the Russian assault on his country.
During a video link address to the Israeli parliament, Zelenskiy questioned Israel's reluctance to sell its Iron Dome missile defence system to Ukraine. It was the latest in a series of appeals he has made for help from abroad.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has held numerous calls with both Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks to try to end the conflict.
Israel’s prime minister has positioned himself as a mediator in the conflict but has also appeared reluctant to antagonise Russia, an important military player in the Middle East.
Zelensky quoted the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, in his video message, with the words "we intend to live, but our neighbours want to see us dead"
In Mariupol, which has suffered some of the heaviest bombardment since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped in the city with little if any food, water and power. Mariupol authorities say nearly 10% of the city’s population of 430,000 have fled over the past week, risking their lives in convoys out.
Capturing Mariupol would help Russian forces secure a land corridor to the Crimea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Zelenskiy said the siege of Mariupol was a war crime.
The U.N. refugee agency said 10 million people had now been displaced across Ukraine, including some 3.4 million who have fled to neighbouring countries such as Poland. Officials in the region said they were reaching capacity to comfortably house refugees.
The U.N. human rights office said at least 902 civilians had been killed in the war as of midnight Saturday, though it says the real toll is probably much higher. Ukrainian prosecutors said 112 children had been killed.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu of Turkey, which like Israel has tried to mediate in the conflict, said Russia and Ukraine were getting closer to agreement on "critical" issues.
-Reuters/BBC/AP