'Dire' humanitarian situation in besieged Ukraine cities

The humanitarian situation was deteriorating in besieged Ukrainian cities under relentless Russian bombardment on Sunday, as Kyiv called on Moscow's ally Beijing to "condemn Russian barbarism". 

In an apparent escalation of the conflict, Moscow on Saturday claimed it had used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine in what would be the first combat use of the next-generation weapons.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from besieged cities but Russian shelling was blocking efforts to deliver humanitarian supplies, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

Aid agencies have warned they are struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of people trapped by the invading Russian forces.

A total of 6,623 people were evacuated on Saturday along humanitarian corridors, including 4,000 from the devastated southern city of Mariupol, Zelensky said in his latest video address.

Russia said Saturday its forces had broken through the defences of the besieged port and were now inside the war-torn city, which has been under relentless bombardment.

Zelensky said the siege of Mariupol would go down in history as a war crime.

"To do such a thing to a peaceful city, what the occupiers have done, this is a...