Lviv/Kyiv: Russian forces have bombed an airport in Lviv, in western Ukraine, destroying buildings, as officials confirmed the rescue of 130 people who were sheltering in a Mariupol theatre, but fears remain for hundreds who may still be trapped.

The early morning attack on Lviv’s edge was the closest strike yet to the centre of the city, which has become a crossroads for people fleeing from other parts of Ukraine and for others entering to deliver aid or fight. The war has swelled Lviv’s population by some 200,000.

The Mariupol Drama Theatre damaged after shelling.Credit:AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said rescue work was ongoing to save hundreds of people still believed to be trapped under the rubble of a bombed theatre in the besieged city of Mariupol. At least 130 are alive, but more than 1000 people were believed to be sheltering there.

“There are still hundreds of Mariupol residents under the rubble. Despite the shelling, despite all the difficulties, we will continue the rescue work,” Zelensky said in an online video address.

The Russian defence ministry said it was “tightening the noose” around Mariupol. But it has denied bombing the theatre or attacking civilians.

US seeks China’s help to end Russia’s invasion

US President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping spoke on Friday for nearly two hours via a video call as the White House looks to deter Beijing from providing military or economic assistance for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

China’s Foreign Ministry was the first to issue a readout of the conversation, deploring “conflict and confrontation” as “not in anyone’s interest,” without assigning any blame to Russia.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying in a Twitter message called the US position “overbearing.”

Ahead of the call, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would question Xi about Beijing’s “rhetorical support” of Russian President Vladimir Putin and an “absence of denunciation” of Russia’s invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appears at a pro-war rally in Moscow.Credit:Ramil Sitdikov/Sputnik Pool Photo via AP

Putin speaks at Moscow rally

Putin appeared at a huge flag-waving rally at a Moscow stadium on Saturday (AEDT) and lavished praise on his troops fighting in Ukraine, three weeks into the invasion that has led to heavier-than-expected Russian losses on the battlefield and increasingly authoritarian rule at home.

“Shoulder to shoulder, they help and support each other,” the Russian president said of the Kremlin’s forces in a rare public appearance since the start of the war. “We have not had unity like this for a long time,” he added to cheers from the crowd.

The show of support amid a burst of antiwar protests inside Russia led to allegations in some quarters that the rally — held officially to mark the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which was seized from Ukraine — was a manufactured display of patriotism.

Several Telegram channels critical of the Kremlin reported that students and employees of state institutions in a number of regions were ordered by their superiors to attend rallies and concerts marking the Crimea anniversary. Those reports could not be independently verified.

Moscow police said more than 200,000 people were in and around the Luzhniki stadium. The event included patriotic songs, including a performance of “Made in the USSR,” with the opening lines “Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova, it’s all my country.”

Lviv airport attacked

Satellite photos analysed by The Associated Press show the Russian strike on the Lviv airport on Friday destroyed the repair hangar just to the west of the north end of its runway. Firetrucks stood parked amid the rubble.

The mayor of Lviv says missiles struck near the city’s airport on Friday. Credit:AP Photo/Bernat Armangue

A row of fighter jets near the hangar appeared intact, though an apparent impact crater sat right in front of them. Two other buildings nearby the hangar also appear to have taken direct hits in the strike, with debris littered around them.

Millions displaced in Ukraine

The United Nations migration agency said nearly 6.5 million people have been displaced inside Ukraine, on top of the 3.2 million who have already fled the country.

People who fled the war in Ukraine rest inside an indoor sports stadium of a high school in Poland.Credit:AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris

That means that around a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people have been forced from their homes.

The estimates from the International Organisation for Migration suggests Ukraine is fast on course in just three weeks toward the levels of displacement from Syria’s devastating war, which has driven about 13 million people from their homes both in the country and abroad.

Battle continues

Russia has been intensively shelling eastern Ukrainian cities, especially Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol.

Troop columns bearing down on Kyiv from the northwest and east have been halted at the gates of the capital by fighting. But residents have endured nightly deadly missile attacks.

Debris from a missile blew a large crater in the ground in the middle of a residential block where a school was also located in northern Kyiv on Friday, shattering hundreds of windows and leaving debris scattered around the complex.

At least one person was killed, emergency services said. Kyiv mayor said 19 people were injured including four children.

“This is a war crime by Putin,” said Lyudmila Nikolaenko, visiting her son, who lived in one of the apartments hit. “They say they aren’t hitting regular people, they say we are firing at ourselves.”

Reuters, AP

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