Russia has increased its “indiscriminate shelling of urban areas” as it struggles to capture major cities in eastern Ukraine, the UK ministry of defence has said.
In an intelligence update posted on social media on Sunday morning, the ministry of defence said that Russia’s tactics would result in “widespread destruction and large numbers of civilian casualties”.
They said that, as Russian forces have made “limited progress” in capturing cities in eastern Ukraine, Russia would likely use heavy firepower to try and make gains.
Russia’s own defence ministry reportedly admitted using hypersonic missiles on Saturday.
Missiles were used to target a large underground depot used to store missiles and aircraft ammunition in western Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported.
Russian forces have also shelled numerous civilian buildings in the beseiged city of Mariupol.
A theatre in the city, which was reportedly being used as a civilian shelter, has been bombed. Satellite images showed the Russian word for “children” emblazoned on the ground.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia’s attack on the port city would be remembered for “centuries to come”.
“To do this to a peaceful city, what the occupiers did, is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,” Mr Zelensky said in a video address.
Mariupol’s city council said on Sunday that an art school where 400 people had been sheltering was bombed by Russian forces.
The people inside were mainly women, children, and elderly people, the council said.
In a video filmed on a rubble-strewn street, Mariupol police officer Michail Vershnin appealed to US president Joe Biden and French president Emmanuel Macron to help.
“Children, elderly people are dying,” he said, “The city is destroyed and it has been wiped off the face of the earth.
“You have promised that there will be help, give us that help. Biden, Macron, you are great leaders. Be them to the end.”
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
