A theatre in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in which more than 1000 civilians were sheltering has been hit by an airstrike, officials have said.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russian forces must have been aware there were hundreds of people inside.
“Another horrendous war crime in Mariupol,” he said.
“Massive Russian attack on the Drama Theatre where hundreds of innocent civilians were hiding. The building is now fully ruined. Russians could not have not known this was a civilian shelter.”
The Mariupol City Council shared an image of the destroyed theatre and said it could not confirm the number of casualties.
“It is still impossible to estimate the scale of this horrific and inhumane act, because the city continues to shell residential areas,” a statement said.
“It is known that after the bombing, the central part of the Drama Theater was destroyed, and the entrance to the bomb shelter in the building was destroyed.”
Serhiy Orlov, Mariupol’s deputy mayor, told the BBC he estimated that between 1000 and 1200 people were inside.
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