Ukrainian authorities struggled to determine the fate of hundreds of civilians who had been sheltering in a theatre smashed by a Russian airstrike in the besieged city of Mariupol as officials said Russian artillery Thursday destroyed more civilian buildings in another front-line city.
Some hope emerged, as an official said some people had managed to survive the Mariupol theatre strike.
A photo released by Mariupol's city council showed that an entire section of the large, three-storey theatre had collapsed after the strike Wednesday evening. Several hundred people had taken refuge in the building's basement, seeking safety amid Russia's strangulating siege of the strategic Azov Sea port city.
At least as recently as Monday, the pavement in front of and behind the once-elegant theatre was marked with huge white letters spelling out "CHILDREN" in Russian, according to images released by the Maxar space technology company.
Rubble had buried the entrance to the shelter inside the theatre and the number of casualties was unclear, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional administration, said on Telegram.
Ukrainian parliament member Sergiy Taruta, a former governor of the Donetsk region, where Mariupol is located, later said on Facebook that some people had managed to escape alive from the destroyed building. He did not provide any further details.
The BBC, after speaking to another member of parliament, Dmytro Gurin — whose parents are in the city — reported that the building was destroyed but a bomb shelter with many people in it survived.
Kyrylenko said Russian airstrikes also hit a municipal swimming pool complex in Mariupol where civilians, including women and children, had been sheltering. "Now there are pregnant women and women with children under the rubble there," he wrote, though the number of casualties was not immediately known.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for more help for his country in a video address to German lawmakers Thursday, saying thousands of people have been killed in the war that started almost a month ago, including 108 children.
He also referred to the dire situation in Mariupol. "Everything is a target for them," he said, including "a theatre where hundreds of people found shelter that was flattened yesterday."
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The address began with a delay because of a technical problem caused by "an attack in the immediate vicinity" of where Zelensky was speaking from, Bundestag deputy speaker Katrin Goering-Eckardt said. Zelensky's address to the Bundestag came a day after he delivered a speech via video to the U.S. Congress that garnered several ovations as he called for more help.
The Russian defence ministry denied bombing the theatre or anywhere else in Mariupol on Wednesday.
Six nations have called for a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Thursday afternoon, ahead of an expected vote Friday on a Russian resolution demanding protection for Ukrainian civilians "in vulnerable situations," yet making no mention of Moscow's responsibility for the war.
"Russia is committing war crimes and targeting civilians," Britain's UN Mission tweeted, announcing the call for the meeting that was joined by the U.S., France and others. "Russia's illegal war on Ukraine is a threat to us all."
What's happening on the ground?
- Russian attacks have battered cities and villages across large parts of Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv, where residents have been huddling in homes and shelters.
- Zelensky's office said Russia carried out further airstrikes on Mariupol early Thursday morning, as well as artillery and airstrikes around the country overnight, including in the Kalynivka and Brovary suburbs of the capital, Kyiv. There was no immediate word on casualties.
- A fire broke out in a Kyiv apartment building early Thursday after it was hit by the remnants of a downed Russian rocket, killing one person and injuring at least three others, according to emergency services. Firefighters evacuated 30 people from the top floors of the 16-storey building and extinguished the blaze within an hour.
- On Thursday, Russian artillery destroyed a school and a community centre in Merefa, a city near the northeast city of Kharkiv, according to Merefa's Mayor Veniamin Sitov. There were no known civilian casualties. The Kharkiv region has seen heavy bombardment as stalled Russian forces try to advance in the area.
- The fighting has led more than three million people to flee Ukraine, the UN estimates. The death toll remains unknown, though Ukraine has said thousands of civilians have died.
Russian President Vladimir Putin went on television to Wednesday excoriate Russians who don't back him, even as both sides expressed optimism over efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting.
Russians "will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and will simply spit them out like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths," he said. "I am convinced that such a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country."
He said the West is using a "fifth column" of traitorous Russians to create civil unrest.
"And there is only one goal, I have already spoken about it — the destruction of Russia," he said.
The speech appeared to be a warning that his authoritarian rule, which had already grown tighter since the invasion began on Feb. 24, shutting down Russian news outlets and arresting protesters, could grow even more repressive.
In a sign of that, Russian law enforcement announced the first known criminal cases under a new law that allows for 15-year prison terms for posting what is deemed to be "false information" about the Ukraine war. Among those charged was Veronika Belotserkovskaya, a Russian-language cookbook author and blogger living abroad.
But it also came amid signs that talks were finally making progress.
'Direct dialogue' needed, Zelensky adviser says
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after Tuesday's meeting that a neutral military status for Ukraine was being "seriously discussed" by the two sides, while Zelensky said Russia's demands for ending the war were becoming "more realistic."
Wednesday's talks, held by video, appeared to wade more deeply into technicalities.
Zelensky adviser Mikhailo Podolyak said Ukraine demanded a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and security guarantees for Ukraine from several countries.
"This is possible only through direct dialogue" between Zelensky and Putin, he tweeted.
Russia has demanded that NATO pledge never to admit Ukraine to the alliance or station forces there.
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Volodmyr Zelensky pleads for no-fly zone in address to U.S. Congress
9 hours agoDuration 2:50Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used his address to the U.S. Congress to plead for aid, including a no-fly zone over his country. 2:50
