Desperate effort to rescue 100s feared trapped in bombed Ukraine theatre

Ukrainian refugees continue to cross into Poland to flee invasion

Rescuers in Ukraine searched on Friday for hundreds of civilians feared trapped under the wreckage of a bombed theatre, as local forces battled against Russian troops across the country.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said 130 people had been brought out after the Russian strike two days ago on the building where civilians were sheltering in the besieged city of Mariupol, but that hundreds were still inside.

The United States fears that China could deliver financial and military aid to Moscow, transforming an already explosive transatlantic standoff into a global confrontation.

Russia's offensive remains largely stalled, a US defence official said, with troops about 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of the capital Kyiv and facing heavy resistance.

- Triumphalist Putin rally -

Marking eight years since Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, tens of thousands of people took part, many wearing ribbons with the letter Z that features on Russian tanks invading Ukraine. 

Also on Friday, the Russian leader accused Kyiv of "war crimes" in a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, and said that Moscow was doing "everything possible" to avoid civilian deaths -- even as Russia continued its devastating bombardment of Mariupol and other cities.

The Russian Ministry of Defence defended the strike as a "high-precision" attack on Ukrainian military infrastructure.

A body lay under a sheet, near a huge crater, after the blast blew out every one of the school's windows.

"Scary," she told AFP in halting English, her face pale with shock as her mother comforted her. "I just hope that everything will be OK."

Zelensky, in another of his regular video messages, directly addressed Russian mothers.

Putin, however, has been taking no chances with domestic dissent in Russia -- shuttering independent media, arresting anti-war demonstrators and threatening jail terms of 15 years for anyone spreading "fake news".

Valentin Vovchenko, 82, told AFP in Lviv: "We fled Kyiv because of the attacks but now they've started to hit here."

In Kharkiv, Russian strikes demolished the six-storey building of a higher education institution, killing one person, officials said.

Britain's defence ministry said that Russia was struggling to resupply its forward troops "with even basic essentials such as food and fuel".

Moscow's diplomatic isolation deepened as Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats, following in the steps of Bulgaria.

But the "devastating human catastrophe" now unfolding risks "extensive" economic fallout around the globe, the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other top global lenders warned.

Italy announced Friday it would tax the extra profits made by energy firms off the back of spiking prices and Belgium delayed by a decade a plan to scrap nuclear energy in 2025, also spooked by the huge spike.

Russia wants Ukraine to disarm and disavow all Western alliances -- steps that Kyiv says would turn it into a vassal state of Moscow.

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Originally published as Desperate effort to rescue 100s feared trapped in bombed Ukraine theatre