Zelensky accuses Russia of 'attack' on humanitarian corridor in Mariupol

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said around 100,000 people had evacuated the country's cities in two days, but accused Russian forces of targeting a humanitarian corridor in the city of Mariupol.

Zelensky said he decided to send a convoy of trucks into the besieged port city with food, water and medicine.

But "the occupiers launched a tank attack exactly where this corridor was supposed to be", he said in a video statement, describing it as "outright terror".

The Ukrainian leader said that, of the around 100,000 people who had been able to leave other Ukrainian cities via humanitarian corridors over the past two days, some 40,000 had fled on Thursday alone. 

Ukraine has accused Russia of carrying out an air strike on Wednesday on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, a strategic port on the Azov Sea, killing three people, including a young girl.

Moscow Thursday promised to open humanitarian corridors every day to allow Ukrainians to flee onto its soil, but Kyiv has previously rejected evacuation routes leading into Russia.

On Day 15 of Russia's war in Ukraine, the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers met in Turkey, as Russian advances sparked fears the Ukrainian capital Kyiv could soon be encircled. With no clear end to the war, world leaders are doubling down on efforts -- with US Vice President Kamala Harris and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visiting Poland, and EU leaders meeting in Versailles for crisis talks. In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin says Russia will "overcome" Western penalties. 

Lavrov, at the Turkey talks, went so far as to claim Moscow's operations have been purely defensive.

Asked by a Turkish reporter if Russia was planning to attack other nations, Lavrov replied "we don't plan to attack other countries" and claimed "we did not attack Ukraine".

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the operation as the situation in Ukraine "posed a direct threat to the Russian Federation".