Chechen armed forced have attacked a high-rise building in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, and his militia marched into Russia this week.

In a post on the Telegram app, the leader shared footage of heavily armed gunmen bombarding a block of flats with bullets.

There appears to be pro-Ukraine forces firing back from within the high-rise.

The video then cuts to a soldier emerging from a basement with a small child.

Chechen forces are said to be moving from ‘house to house’ as they continue their advancement through Russia.

Kadyrov has released a flurry of videos and photos on his Telegram account as he continues to back Russia in the war.

Earlier this week, he issued a chilling message warning Ukraine ‘you don’t have long left’ as he vowed to ‘end’ those who don’t surrender.

He claimed that a thousand of his fighters had been deployed for ‘the special operation of denazification and demilitarisation of Ukraine’.

The advancement of Chechen soldiers comes after the devastating Russian shelling of a Mariupol theatre.

Thousands, including women and children, had been hiding in a bomb shelter beneath the theatre when the attack took place.

Around 130 people have now been rescued, but 1,300 still remain trapped under rubble – according to Verkhovna Rada commissioner for human rights Liudmyla Denisova.

Video of Chechen Rosgvardia troops firing on a building in Mariupol. https://t.co/lmZ9WeIwL4 pic.twitter.com/jvTspNFGlx

Fighting reached the city centre after weeks of constant Russian attacks and shelling.

Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko told the BBC ‘there’s no city left’ and no ‘small piece of land that doesn’t have signs of war’.

Officials say there are more than 350,000 people sheltering in the city with no access to food or water. 

French president Emmanuel Macron has urged Vladimir Putin to pull back his forces from Mariupol and order a cease-fire.

During an hour-long call with Putin this week, he said he was ‘extremely concerned’ about the level of shelling.

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