Russia has fired more than 1,000 missiles at Ukrainian targets since the start of its invasion, which has now entered its fourth week, a senior US defense official said on Thursday.
Rescue workers were searching for survivors in the rubble of a theater in the besieged city of Mariupol on Thursday, after Ukraine said a powerful Russian airstrike hit the building where hundreds of people had been sheltering from the war.
The port city is encircled by Russian forces and has seen fierce bombardment. A statement from the city council said that about 30,000 residents had managed to escape so far, but more than 350,000 remained stuck there.
"The heart is breaking from what Russia does to our people, our Mariupol, and our Donetsk region," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a late night address on Wednesday, after referring to the theater attack.
The city council said hundreds of people, mostly women, children and the elderly, had been hiding in the theater and a nearby swimming pool building because of heavy shelling.
"Information about the victims is still being clarified," it said.
