A Ukrainian theatre sheltering over a thousand people was targeted in a bombing, despite people carving the word 'children' into the ground outside. The theatre in the heart of the besieged city of Mariupol was destroyed in the attack on Wednesday, while the death toll and number of casualties remains unknown.
Days before the shelling, satellite pictures show the Russian word for 'children' written in huge letters at both ends of the building, as those sheltering inside desperately tried to protect the theatre from being attacked. However, despite these pleas, Russian forces "deliberately and cynically destroyed" the building, according to a statement from Mariupol's city council.
On Thursday morning, a member of Parliament from Mariupol said that there was "information that the bomb shelter survived and people there survived". MP Dmytro Gurin added: "We don’t know yet whether we have wounded people, or killed people. But it looks like most of them have survived and are OK." However, with the shelter covered in rubble, officials are struggling to reach the civilians trapped inside.
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The attack comes after previous Russian airstrikes hit apartment buildings, schools and a maternity hospital. In Mariupol alone, around 2,400 people have confirmed to have been killed since the start of the conflict, although the exact number is estimated to be far higher. Hundreds of thousands of people are also trapped in the besieged city, where Russian troops have not allowed the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces had deliberately targeted the theatre, saying "our hearts are broken by what Russia is doing to our people." He added: "Russian aircraft purposefully dropped a huge bomb on the drama theatre in the city centre. Hundreds of people were hiding from the shelling there. The building was destroyed. The death toll is still unknown."
Following the attack, Mariupol city council accused Russia of committing a war crime, saying in a statement that it was "impossible to estimate the scale of this horrific and inhumane act". They confirmed that the central part of the theatre was completely destroyed, as was the entrance to an area being used as a bomb shelter.
The council statement read: "It is impossible to find words that could describe the level of cruelty and cynicism with which the Russian occupiers are destroying the civilian population of the Ukrainian city by the sea. Women, children, and the elderly remain in the enemy's sights. These are completely unarmed peaceful people. It is obvious that the only goal of the Russian army is the genocide of the Ukrainian people. We will never forgive and never forget."
However, following the attack, the Russian defence ministry denied it had carried out an airstrike on the theatre. Instead, it said the building had been blown up by a far-right Ukrainian militia, despite providing no evidence for this claim.
The theatre bombing comes after another day of destruction and bloodshed in the besieged city in the south east of the country, which has been bombarded by Russian forces since the beginning of the conflict. Despite attempts to evacuate the city, around 350,000 people remain trapped there, with supplies of food and water quickly running out and gas and electricity cut off.
Entire blocks have been completely destroyed in the shelling, while street fighting has also broken out with hundreds of Ukrainians being killed as they defend the city. The bodies of those killed remain lying covered up in the streets.
Less than a day before the theatre attack, patients and doctors were held hostage at a Mariupol hospital by Russian soldiers. Military officials said around 500 people were being used as "human shields".
A maternity hospital in the city was also bombed by Russian forces, with a pregnant woman and her baby dying as a result of the attack. Images of the woman being rushed to an ambulance on a stretcher quickly circulated around the world as the brutality of the conflict was laid bare.
The woman was rushed to another hospital, closer to the frontline, where doctors worked to keep her alive. Realising she was losing her baby, medics said that she cried out to them: “Kill me now.”
However, after being accused of war crimes, Russian officials again claimed the maternity hospital had been taken over by Ukrainian extremists to use as a base, and that no patients or medics were left inside, calling the images “fake news”.
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