Zelensky denounces bombing of school as act of 'terror'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday denounced Russia's bombardment of a school sheltering hundreds as an act of "terror", while urging direct talks with his Russian counterpart as the only way to end the war.

People remained "under the rubble" at the school in the besieged southern city of Mariupol, authorities said, in the latest attack on civilians to mark Russia's more than three-week-old invasion of its eastern European neighbour.

The bombardment came as Moscow said it had again used a new-generation hypersonic missile and as China -- under pressure to denounce its ally's invasion -- said it was not sending Russia weapons.

In his daily video message, Zelensky said the siege of Mariupol, a strategic port cut off by Russian forces from food, water and supplies, would go down as a war crime, describing it as "a terror that will be remembered even in the next century".

"Russian forces have come to exterminate us, to kill us," the president said.

Authorities in Turkey, where Russian and Ukrainian representatives have been negotiating, said the two sides were close to a deal to stop the fighting, amid reports of a mounting civilian death toll and of hundreds of Ukrainians being forcibly deported to Russia.

But Zelensky said that an ultimate solution to the brutal conflict would require direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Dialogue is the only way out," he said on CNN on Sunday. "I think it's just the two of us, me and Putin, who can make an agreement on this."

Since Putin launched the war on February 24, it has sparked a refugee crisis of historic proportions, wreaked havoc on the global economy and drawn fierce denunciations from much of the world.

Russia's ally China has walked a cautious line, calling for peace talks but refraining from denouncing Moscow.

China's ambassador to the US on Sunday denied that his country was sending weapons to Russia for the war, days after US President Joe Biden warned Beijing not to do so.

"What China is doing is sending food, medicine, sleeping bags and baby formula, not weapons and ammunition," Ambassador Qin Gang told CBS, while making no promises about the future.

Russian forces -- stymied by unexpectedly fierce Ukrainian resistance, and reportedly facing shortages of weapons and supplies -- have made increasing use of long-range missiles, claiming twice in recent days to have fired a new-generation hypersonic missile.