In his latest appeal for help from abroad, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the Israeli parliament by video link and questioned Israel's reluctance to sell its Iron Dome missile defence system to Ukraine.

Russia instead accuses the Azov Battalion of blowing up the building after holding hostages there and using the upper floors from which to fire at Russian forces.

Residents have been cowering under fire, and without power or water, in the Black Sea port city of over 400,000 people for more than a week and attempts to arrange a ceasefire and safe passage have failed repeatedly.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says Mariupol was one of seven cities from which the government hoped to evacuate residents trapped by fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24.