Russia fires hypersonic missiles as Ukraine presses for peace deal

Moscow also said its troops had broken Ukrainian defences to enter the strategic southern port city of Mariupol

Russia on Saturday admitted using advanced hypersonic missiles for the first time in the Ukraine conflict as Kyiv's embattled leader Volodymyr Zelensky called for urgent peace talks.

Moscow also said its troops had broken Ukrainian defences to enter the strategic southern port city of Mariupol and destroyed radio and intelligence sites just outside Odessa.

Ukrainian authorities said they had "temporarily" lost access to the Sea of Azov although Russia has effectively controlled the coastline for weeks after ringing Mariupol.

Russia said it had on Friday used the Kinzhal (Dagger) high-precision hypersonic missile, which can elude most defence systems, to destroy an arms depot in Deliatyn, a village near the border with Romania.

Moscow has never admitted using the state-of-the-art missile in combat before.

"The enemy targeted our depots" but "we have no information of the type of missile," Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuri Ignat told AFP.

"There has been damage, destruction and the detonation of munitions," he said. "They are using all the missiles in their arsenal against us."