HYPERSONIC MISSILES AND MARIUPOL BREACHED: THE LATEST ON RUSSIA’S WAR IN UKRAINE

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine. 

A couple of Ukrainian soldiers walks hand in hand amid Russian invasion of Ukraine in Kyiv on 17 March 2022.

AFP | 

KYIV - Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

HYPERSONIC WEAPONS

Russia says it has used hypersonic missiles for the first time in Ukraine to destroy a weapons storage site in the west of the country.

Hypersonic missiles travel faster than the speed of sound and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them hard to track and intercept.

Russia's defence ministry says it used the technology to strike an underground arms depot in the village of Deliatyn, around 100 kilometres from Ukraine's border with Romania.

RUSSIANS IN CENTRAL MARIUPOL

Russia says that its forces have broken through the defences of the besieged southern port of Mariupol and are now inside the war-torn city.

The mayor of Mariupol confirms to the BBC that Ukrainian and Russian forces are engaged in gun battles in the heart of the southern port, which has suffered relentless shelling.

'HUNDREDS' STILL TRAPPED IN THEATRE

Rescuers continue searching for people trapped in a bomb shelter buried under the wreckage of a bombed theatre in Mariupol.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says that 130 people have been saved but that "hundreds" are still trapped in rubble after Wednesday's strike on the theatre, where people were sheltering from the Russian shelling.

'TIME TO MEET', SAYS ZELENSKY

Zelensky calls for urgent talks with Russia, saying in a Facebook video they are the "only chance for Russia to minimise the damage done with their own mistakes".

He has been pushing for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Moscow claims that several rounds of negotiations have made progress on one of its key demands - that Ukraine becomes a neutral state. Kyiv, which is demanding international security guarantees, denies its position has changed.

BIDEN WARNS XI

US President Joe Biden laid out to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping the "consequences" of any support for Russia in its war against Ukraine, the White House says.

During their first call since the Russian invasion, lasting almost two hours, Xi said that war is "in no one's interest", but he showed no sign of giving in to US pressure to join Western condemnation of the invasion.

STRIKES NEAR LVIV AIRPORT

Russian forces destroy an aircraft repair plant near Lviv airport but no one is hurt, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi says on the messaging app Telegram.

The western city is just 70 kilometres from the border with NATO member Poland.

KYIV TOWER BLOCKS HIT

Authorities in the capital Kyiv say one person was killed when a Russian rocket struck residential tower blocks in the northwestern suburbs. They said a school and playground were also hit.

ONE DEAD, ONE TRAPPED IN KHARKIV

In the eastern city of Kharkiv, Russian strikes demolish the six-storey building of a higher education institution, killing one person and leaving another trapped in the wreckage, officials say.

'DIRE' SITUATION IN EAST

The UN warns that humanitarian needs are becoming ever more urgent across eastern Ukraine, with a potentially fatal lack of food, water and medicines in besieged cities such as Mariupol and Sumy.

G7 LEADERS CONVENED

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as current G7 president, invites the leaders of the world's top industrialised countries to a meeting on Ukraine as part of EU and NATO summits next week.

IEA URGES CUT IN GLOBAL OIL CONSUMPTION

The International Energy Agency urges governments to urgently implement measures to cut global oil consumption within months following supply fears stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS EXPELLED

The three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania announce the expulsion of a total of 10 Russian diplomats over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

3.25 MILLION REFUGEES

More than 3.25 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, the United Nations says, with more than two million crossing the border into Poland.