Thread by @fulelo

Ukraine news 🧵on @bbcworldservice at 0900 AM GMT on 20.03 - listen live: bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/li…

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has described Russia's siege of the port of Mariupol as a "terror that will be remembered for centuries to come". In one of the

latest attacks, the city authorities say Russia has bombed a school where around four hundred people were sheltering. There's no word yet on casualties. Earlier, the mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, said thousands of residents had been taken by force to Russia. This can't

be independently verified. Around 300 000 people remained trapped in the city, which has been largely destroyed by Russian bombardment. People who've managed to escape have described horrendous conditions -- with bodies lying unburied and food running out as fighting rages

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to address the Israeli parliament by video- link today, in his latest effort to rally global support. Reports suggest he will invoke his Jewishness and compare Ukraine's struggle against the Russian invasion to the

fight against the Nazis in WWII. Israel has so far tried to remain relatively neutral while acting as a mediator in the conflict. The foreign minister Yair Lapid has condemned Russia but the prime minister Naftali Bennett -- who's been acting as a go-between -- has not.

More than half a million refugees from Ukraine have now crossed into Romania -- out of 3.3 estimated to have fled the war. Snow on the ground and freezing temperatures at night are adding to their suffering. Many are passing through the border town of Siret --

which is also being used as a hub for sending medical and food supplies into Ukraine. The UNHCR says around half of those who have left Ukraine are children. Some are travelling alone and aid agencies are trying to identify them and protect them from all forms of abuse.

Australia has banned the export of alumina and bauxite to Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. They are used in aluminium production, a key export for Russia. Australia normally provides 20% of Russia's alumina. The move is an expansion of existing sanctions

On Friday Canberra imposed sanctions on Oleg Deripaska, a Russian who owns part of an alumina refinery in Queensland. Australia is to give Ukraine another $ 20 million (US) in humanitarian assistance and 21 million dollars in military assistance.