SICK & TWISTED
Putin’s forces bomb theatre ‘sheltering 1,200 people’ with ‘children’ written outside building despite peace deal talks
VLADIMIR Putin's evil troops bombed a theatre said to be sheltering up to 1,200 terrified people - despite the word "children" being written outside the building.
The Mariupol Drama Theatre was used as a safe haven from Russia's relentless shelling of the southern port city, with meals being provided and people sleeping there overnight.
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The continuous bombardment of Mariupol has forced around 20,000 Ukrainians to flee, and it's estimated more than 2,300 citizens have been killed in the area.
The city's deputy mayor, Serhiy Orlov, said between 1,000 and 1,200 people were inside the theatre on Wednesday when it was targeted by the Russians.
Satellite images from two days ago showed the word "children" written in large white letters in Russian outside the front and back of the building, the Maxar space technology company said.
Rescuers are searching the wreckage for survivors but the number of casualties is not yet known.
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In a statement, Ukraine's foreign ministry said: "The theatre building served as shelter for hundreds of Mariupol residents who had lost their homes as a result of Russian armed forces bombing and shelling the city.
"The bomb strike demolished the central part of the theatre building, causing large numbers of people to be buried under the debris.
"The assessment of the exact number of persons affected is currently impossible due to ongoing shelling.
"By delivering a purposeful bomb attack to the place of mass gathering of civilians Russia has committed another war crime.
"Putin’s regime has long since crossed the line of humanity."
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Pictures showed a pile of rubble with twisted metal and smoke rising from the ruins while videos showed blood soaked victims being rushed to hospital – and numerous bodies in the basement of the theatre.
Another video showed smouldering vehicles and debris strewn across what appeared to be the theatre's car park.
Footage posted online just five days ago showed the huge Soviet-era building packed with people sheltering from the onslaught of Russian shelling.
Ukraine's foreign minister branded the attack "another horrendous war crime".
Local MP Sergiy Taruta said the theatre had become a shelter “in which the residents of the blockaded Mariupol sought respite from the continuous shelling”.
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He feared many had been buried under the rubble and posted online: "There were a huge number of people hiding from the shelling. There is some fierce fighting going on right now.
"Many Mariupol citizens were hiding in the theatre, with small children."
Mariupol City Council said it was "impossible to estimate the scale of this horrific and inhumane act".
The attack appeared to be one of a number of Russian strikes in the city on Wednesday.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional administration, said Russian forces also hit the Neptune swimming pool, burying pregnant woman and children under rubble.
He said: "These b*****ds are aiming to physically destroy Mariupol and Mariupol citizens, who have long become a symbol of our resistance."
Russia has reportedly denied it carried out the airstrike on the theatre.
The defence ministry accused the Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian militia, of blowing it up, RIA news agency reports.
Mariupol has been under fire for more than two weeks and entire neighbourhoods have been turned into wasteland.
It comes as...
- Russia has slapped a ban on Joe Biden and called for Alaska to become part of its territory again
- Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted Ukraine may never join Nato in a key concession that could pave the way to peace
- Putin's troops have taken hundreds of hospital staff and patients hostage in the besieged city of Mariupol
- Dramatic footage shows the moment a Russian tank was blown to smithereens by Ukrainian forces
- Ukraine has an unexpected trick up its sleeve in the battle against Russian forces and it comes in the form of a relatively cheap drone
- A nine-year-old girl has lost her arm after Russian forces machine-gunned her family when they tried to flee Kyiv
- Oligarchs including Roman Abramovich may never be able to return to Britain, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has warned
Shocking drone footage showed the utter devastation in the besieged city where thousands of people have died and 250,000 remain trapped without power or water.
Huge plumes of black smoke darkened the skies as dozens of vast apartment blocks were ablaze.
One local said: “Mariupol is now just hell.”
Others reported seeing 22 aircraft dropping 100 bombs in just one day.
The Red Cross said the city is in the middle of a "waking nightmare".
In a separate incident today, a convoy of civilians heading for the relative calm of the central city of Zaporizhzhia were hit by Russian rockets.
In a Facebook post, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the civilians were fleeing when they were fired on by a BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system.
The Zaporizhzhya local government said at least five people were injured - including a child who has been left in a critical condition.
Russian soldiers have also taken hundreds of hospital staff and patients hostage at Mariupol Regional Intensive Care Hospital.
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MARIUPOL UNDER SIEGE
The troops are said to be forcing nearby residents out of their homes and into the hospital after days of relentless Russian shelling.
Mr Orlov said about 400 people are being stopped from leaving the city centre hospital.
The Russian soldiers have reportedly threatened to shoot anyone who tries to escape.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Mariupol was quickly running out of food and residents are struggling for water, heating and medicine.
And Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine's deputy prime minister, said there were serious problems trying to deliver humanitarian aid to the desperate city of 430,000 people.
She said a convoy filled with supplies was stuck at nearby Berdyansk.
In a glimmer of hope, around 20,000 people have managed to flee the city by driving along a humanitarian corridor agreed with Russian forces.
About 4,000 cars fled northwest to Zaporizhzhia in what is believed to be the biggest evacuation yet from Mariupol, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior aide to Zelensky.
But a number of parents were tragically forced to leave their tiny premature babies behind at a hospital in the city as it's reported 103 children have been killed by merciless Russian troops.
Amid frantic scenes as families try to escape, a devastating picture from the city's hospital number three shows three premature babies in a bed - left behind by their desperate parents.
It comes after a pregnant woman and her unborn baby died after a Russian air strike destroyed a maternity hospital in Mariupol.
A harrowing picture showed the mother being stretchered from the hospital and she later screamed "kill me, kill me" when she found her baby was lost - before dying herself.
CIVILIANS MASSACRED
Elsewhere, at least 10 people have died after Russian troops reportedly opened fire on Ukrainian civilians queueing for bread in the northern city of Chernihiv.
Horror footage shows bodies lying on the ground after Russian soldiers allegedly shot them outside a bakery in the city.
It comes as Putin's troops were filmed apparently shooting dead a Ukrainian civilian in cold blood as he held his hands up and surrendered.
The distressing clip shows the man getting out of his car and surrendering before dropping to the ground almost immediately.
German broadcaster , which obtained the drone footage, said the incident appears to have taken place on the afternoon of March 7, on the E40 expressway outside Kyiv.
The video shows a Russian tank parked near a petrol station while a man in a silver vehicle turns his car around and stops.
He can be seen getting out of the car with his hands up - but a few moments later he drops to the ground after being shot.
Russian forces are continuing to pound Ukrainian cities and edge closer to Kyiv in a relentless bombardment that keeps deepening the humanitarian crisis.
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Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko has warned of a "difficult and dangerous moment" for the city as Russian forces step up strikes on residential buildings.
The strikes have disrupted the relative calm after an initial advance by Putin's forces was stopped in the early days of the war.
Explosions around the city caused massive structural damage - with shockwaves from a blast tearing through the entrance of a downtown subway station that residents have been using as a bomb shelter.
Kyiv has now imposed a 35-hour curfew after the intense shelling.
Meanwhile, Zelensky said Ukraine has captured almost 1,000 Russian prisoners of war since the invasion began on February 24.
During a call with International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan, the Ukrainian leader said: "We have already almost 1,000 prisoners and their video testimonies."
But Putin today sent a chilling warning to the West and oligarchs, telling "scum" traitors that Russians will "spit them out like a midge that flew into their mouths".
In a televised address, the Russian leader warned the West would use "those who earn their money here, but live over there" as a "fifth column" to "divide our society".
Putin also claimed his "military operation" in Ukraine is going to plan despite his troops' advance remaining largely stalled on the outskirts of Kyiv.
PEACE TALKS
It came after talks between Russia and Ukraine continued for a third day yesterday, sparking increased optimism over a peace agreement.
Ukraine claimed the Russians were working on a 15-point plan to end the war.
However, an aide said the draft plan represented just the Russian position and the Ukrainians had their own which depended on a ceasefire, withdrawal of Russian troops and security guarantees from other countries.
Experts said Putin’s troops had suffered such huge losses that desperate top brass were recruiting mercenaries, while Nato revealed he was unlikely to achieve his military goals.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: “The negotiations are difficult for obvious reasons but nonetheless there is a certain hope for reaching a compromise.”
Zelensky also sounded hopeful. He said: “The meetings are ongoing, as I am told the positions are sounding more realistic.”
He stressed the need for the talks to continue but vowed not to cave in to Russian pressure.
The president added: “We need more time to achieve decisions that serve the interests of Ukraine.”
Russia has had to resort to recruiting mercenaries and private contractors because it has suffered such a high loss of troops, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
The MoD said Putin was also redeploying forces from as far away as “its Eastern Military District, Pacific Fleet and Armenia”.
US and Nato allies continued shipping military aid to Ukraine despite Russia’s threat at the weekend that such convoys were legitimate targets.
Surface-to-air systems, which can take out cruise missiles, are being supplied to add to the launchers and ammo already shipped.
It was a cruise missile attack which devastated barracks on a military base near the Polish border on Sunday.
More than 30 missiles were launched at the base. Most were taken out by Ukrainian defences but at least eight got through, killing 35 Ukrainian soldiers.
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The US is sending an additional £600million to add to the £10.3billion in military and humanitarian aid already approved.
Ukraine continued to enjoy a series of battlefield successes, with officials saying their forces had killed a fourth Russian general.
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