UN pushes to see civilians evacuated from pummelled port city of Mariupol

The United Nations doggedly sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol on Friday, while Ukraine accused Russia of showing its contempt for the world organization by bombing Kyiv while the UN leader was visiting the capital.

The mayor of Mariupol said the situation inside the steel plant that has become the southern port city's last stronghold is dire, and citizens are "begging to get saved." Mayor Vadym Boichenko added: "There, it's not a matter of days. It's a matter of hours."

Ukraine's forces, meanwhile, fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the country's industrial Donbas region.

Artillery fire, sirens and explosions could be heard in some cities.

In other developments:

On Thursday, Russia launched a missile attack on a residential highrise and another building in Kyiv, shattering weeks of relative calm in the capital following Russia's retreat from the region early this month.

U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said one of its journalists, Vira Hyrych, was killed in the bombardment. Ten people were wounded, one of them losing a leg, authorities said.

The missile strike came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a news conference with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

"This says a lot about Russia's true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of Russian authorities to humiliate the UN and everything that the organization represents," Zelensky said late Thursday in his nightly video address to the nation. "Therefore, it requires corresponding powerful response."

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was Russian President Vladimir Putin's way of giving "his middle finger" to Guterres.

In an apparent reference to the Kyiv bombing, Russia's military said it had destroyed "production buildings" at the Artem defence factory.

The missile strike came just as life in Kyiv seemed to be getting back a little closer to normal, with cafés and businesses starting to reopen and growing numbers of people going out to enjoy the arrival of spring.

Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst and head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think-tank, said the Kyiv attack carried a message: "Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure."

Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult, because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Both Ukraine and Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east have also introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.