These are the first pictures of the horror that awaited rescuers finally entering Mariupol theatre to save civilians after it was completely destroyed by a Russian airstrike.
The Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre in Mariupol, Ukraine, was being used as a makeshift air-raid shelter reportedly providing cover for as many as 1,300 civilians from Russian bombs.
On March 16, during the Russian siege of Mariupol, it was bombed despite warnings plastered on the floor outside that it was harbouring innocent children. At least 300 victims could have been killed, according to reports.
Two days later, the Ukrainian Parliament tweeted: “130 people were rescued from under the rubbles of the destroyed Drama Theater in #Mariupol. Yet, more than 1,300 remain trapped in the basements.”
The bomb shelter underneath the building is believed to have withstood the explosion which is believed to have been caused by a Russian attack.
The pictures emerged as Russia withdrew many of its forces from the area around Kyiv after being thwarted in its bid to swiftly capture the capital.
It has instead poured troops into eastern Ukraine in a stepped-up bid to gain control of the Donbas, the largely Russian-speaking industrial region that includes the besieged Mariupol, which has seen some of the heaviest fighting and worst suffering of the war.
About two-thirds of the Russian troops around Kyiv have left and are either in Belarus or on their way there, probably getting more supplies and reinforcements, said a senior US defence official.
More than 1,500 civilians were able to escape Mariupol on Monday, using the dwindling number of private vehicles available to leave, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
But amid the fighting, a Red Cross-accompanied convoy of buses that has been thwarted for days on end in a bid to deliver supplies and evacuate residents was again unable to get inside the city, Vereshchuk said.
Elsewhere, Russian shelling killed 11 people in the southern city of Mykolaiv, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said in a video message on social media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed for more weaponry as Russia prepares new offensives.
“If we had already got what we needed — all these planes, tanks, artillery, anti-missile and anti-ship weapons — we could have saved thousands of people,” he said.
