- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
UN convoy en route for rescue from Mariupol 'hell'
The United Nations on Thursday said a new convoy was heading to evacuate civilians from the "hell" of a besieged steel plant in Mariupol, even as Ukraine accused Russia of breaking its promise to pause fire at the site.
Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have for weeks been holed up at the sprawling factory, trapped under heavy Russian fire, in what has become the last pocket of resistance in the strategically important southern port city.
The Russian army announced a three-day ceasefire at the site, but Svyatoslav Palamar, a commander of the Azov regiment which is defending it, said in a video on Telegram that heavy bloody fighting continued.
"The Russians violated the promise of a truce and did not allow the evacuation of civilians who continue to hide from shelling in the basement of the plant," Palamar said.
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday the Russian army was still ready to allow civilians to leave the complex, while a Kremlin spokesman said humanitarian corridors were "functioning".
The mayor of Mariupol estimates that around 200 civilians are still sheltering in dismal conditions in the plant's Soviet-era underground tunnels.
Women and children are among them, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, though one of his advisors cautioned that incoming information was "contradictory."
Despite the uncertainty, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said the rescue convoy was on its way.
"A convoy is proceeding to get to Azovstal by tomorrow morning hopefully to receive those civilians remaining in that bleak hell... and take them back to safety," he told a Ukraine donor conference in Warsaw.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed to AFP "that a safe passage operation is ongoing" in coordination with the UN.
The two organisations already worked together to evacuate some 100 civilians from the plant at the weekend.
- Fresh effort -
Speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Putin said "the Russian military is still ready to ensure the safe exit of civilians", according to the Kremlin.
"As for the militants remaining at Azovstal, the Kyiv authorities must give them an order to lay down their arms," Putin said.
Taking full control of the now flattened city of Mariupol would be a major victory for Moscow, allowing it to create a land bridge between separatist, pro-Russian regions in the east and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Nearly 10 weeks into a war that has killed thousands, destroyed cities and uprooted more than 13 million people, the Kremlin conceded Thursday that Kyiv's Western partners had prevented a "quick" end to Russia's military campaign by sharing intelligence and weapons with Ukraine.
Since failing to take Kyiv early on in its invasion, which began on February 24, Russia has focused its efforts on the east and south of Ukraine.
The outside help, nevertheless, was "incapable of hindering the achievement" of Russia's military operation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted.
- 'One click' -
Zelensky, who has tirelessly campaigned for help from allies, on Thursday launched a global crowdfunding platform to help Kyiv win the war and rebuild the country's infrastructure.
"In one click, you can donate funds to protect our defenders, to save our civilians and to rebuild Ukraine," Zelensky said in a video, launching the United24 platform.
More than six billion euros ($6.3 billion) were collected at the Ukraine donors' conference in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
Ukraine's government in April estimated the cost of rebuilding after the war to be at least $600 billion.
As well as sending money and weapons to Ukraine, Kyiv's allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia to punish it for the invasion.
The British government said Thursday it had frozen the assets of the UK-based steel and mining firm Evraz as it is of strategic significance for Russia's war.
Evraz's main shareholder is Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who is already under sanctions, and its main operations are in Russia.
Zelensky meanwhile invited German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to visit Kyiv, patching up a diplomatic spat between the two countries over military assistance.
- Fighting, farming go on -
Fighting continued across east Ukraine.
The governor of the Donbas region Pavlo Kyrylenko said at least 25 civilians were wounded in an overnight Russian strike on the city of Kramatorsk.
In the southwest, farmers racing to keep up with the spring planting season have found themselves ploughing around unexploded ordnance -- one more piece of worrying news for next year's harvest in Europe's breadbasket.
"We first spotted the projectile a week and a half ago," Igor Tsiapa told AFP in the village of Grygorivka, standing by deminers preparing the device for destruction.
But the work did not stop: instead Tsiapa "just didn't touch this part of the field," he said, as the controlled detonation went off in a puff of black smoke.
burs-st/bgs
C.Amaral--PC