Rescuers are continuing work to extract survivors from a theatre in the besieged city of Mariupol.
According to Ukraine’s ombudswoman Ludmila Denisova, the building withstood the impact of a high-powered air bomb and protected the lives of people hiding in the bomb shelter.
Some survivors had emerged from the Mariupol Drama Theatre, says Denisova and parliament member Sergiy Taruta.
130 people have been successfully rescued from that shelter. There were reports of injuries but no deaths. According to the legislator, Lesia Vasylenko, who was in London in a delegation visiting Parliament, said the number of injuries and casualties remains unconfirmed.
Authorities in Ukraine accused Russian forces of bombing the theatre in southeastern Ukraine.
Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko posted pictures and videos of the theatre on Telegram, saying the “Russians are deliberately attacking civilians.”
According to some officials up to one thousand men, women and children had taken shelter in the building’s basement. Maxar Technologies, a private US company, distributed satellite imagery showing the word “children” in Russian painted in large letters on the ground outside the theatre.
‘If there is doubt as to whether an object normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a theatre, is being used for military purposes, it shall be presumed not to be so, says Human Rights Watchdog.
According to him directing an attack against a civilian object is strictly prohibited. Russia has denied bombing the theatre or targeting civilians in Ukraine.
The defense ministry accused Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian fighter group, of blowing up the theatre.
