NEW YORK - The Russian Consulate in New York was vandalised with red spray paint early on Friday, in an apparent protest as President Vladimir Putin pursues his bloody invasion of Ukraine.

Officers said they responded to an emergency call just after 1.30am that reported paint sprayed across the facade of the consulate on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

A police spokeman said the investigation is ongoing into the potential "bias incident" and no arrests have been made.

The bright red paint appeared hours before Putin announced he was annexing four parts of Ukraine occupied by his army.

Shelling also killed at least 30 people in Ukraine's southern region of Zaporizhzhia - one of the worst attacks against civilians in months.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the US-led military alliance Nato to grant Ukraine expedited membership, as international leaders including Joe Biden condemned Moscow's annexations.

Rosie Morse, a retiree who lives in the neighbourhood near the consulate, said the spray paint "looks like art work."

"But the meaning is to express our feeling about Putin, and I can't say that I don't agree," she told AFP.

"It's vandalism, but it is the expression of how people in New York are realising Putin is killing people," said another bystander, Romen Eaulin.

“This is a historical building and we are in the middle of New York, but I totally agree with the artist who did it.” AFP