The Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is under siege from Russian forces. The city's mayor told BBC that the fighting has reached the centre of the city, with the city losing all its access to the Azov Sea. Rescuers continue to search for survivors of a Russian airstrike on a theatre where hundreds of people were sheltering. However, Russia's military denied bombing the theatre or anyplace else in Mariupol.
Kyiv continued to take heavy fire Friday, and Russian forces pounded an aircraft repair installation on the outskirts of Lviv, close to the Polish border. Russian forces were still trying to storm the city. It was unclear whether they had seized.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to lift the siege of Mariupol, allow humanitarian access and order an immediate cease-fire, Macron's office said.
Macron spoke with the Russian leader on the phone for 70 minutes. Earlier in the day, Putin had a conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who also pressed for an immediate cease-fire.
Macron, who has spoken numerous times with Putin, revisited complaints over repeated attacks on civilians and Russia's failure to respect human rights in Ukraine, the presidential Elysee Palace said. It said that Putin, in turn, laid the blame for the war on Ukraine.
-Inputs from AP
