Survivors are beginning to emerge from the ruins of a theatre destroyed by a Russian airstrike in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, an official has claimed.
Around 130 people are believed to have been rescued from the building, where up to 1,300 were sheltering when it was bombed on Wednesday – despite the word ‘children’ being emblazoned outside.
The central part of the three-storey venue collapsed, leaving dozens trapped underneath the rubble.
But the building, including a ‘relatively modern’ bomb shelter inside, withstood the attack.
There have been no deaths recorded amid conflicting reports about how many people survived the onslaught.
The former head of the separatist stronghold of Donestk in eastern Ukraine, Sergiy Taruta, wrote on Facebook yesterday: ‘After an awful night of not knowing, we finally have good news from Mariupol on the morning of the 22nd day of the war.
‘The bomb shelter (of the theatre) was able to hold. The rubble is beginning to be cleared.
‘People are coming out alive.’
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The Ukrainian Parliament’s commissioner for human rights, Liudmyla Denisova, also said adults and children had survived – but the true impact remains unclear, CNN reports.
‘In Mariupol, the release of civilians from the rubble of the drama theatre has begun,’ Ms Denisova said in a statement on Telegram.
‘The building withstood the impact of a high-powered air bomb and protected the lives of people hiding in the bomb shelter.
‘Work is underway to unlock the basement.’
But she said there was no information about the dead or wounded trapped under the rubble of the theatre.
The attack was an ‘act of genocide’ and a ‘terrible crime against humanity,’ she added.
However, an update from Petro Andrushchenko, based at the Mariupol mayor’s office, was less clear about who had survived the blast.
‘We hope and we think that some people who stayed in the shelter under the theatre could survive,’ he said.
Civilians have been forced to search for survivors and take on the clean-up operation as the ongoing crisis takes its toll on emergency services.
Mr Taruta added: ‘People are doing everything themselves.
‘My friends went to help, but due to constant shelling it was not safe.
‘People are clearing away the rubble themselves.
‘There is no rescue operation, because all the services that are supposed to rescue people, to treat them, to bury them, these services no longer exist,’ he told Ukrainian television.
Russia-Ukraine war: Everything you need to know
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the country has suffered widespread damages and loss of life amid a major bombing campaign.
Over three million people have fled, as Ukrainian cities face shortages of food, water, heat, and medicine – with thousands of British people opening up their homes to Ukrainian refugees.
And Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t shown any signs of calling off the attack anytime soon, despite reports that one-fifth of Russia’s army has been wiped out.
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Drone footage revealed the devastating impact on Mariupol after days of shelling reduced the city to rubble.
Days before the theatre was struck, a children’s hospital in the city was completely wiped out in a Russian bombing.
Russia has repeatedly denied attacking civilians.
But the United Nations political chief, undersecretary-general Rosemary DiCarlo, has called for an investigation into civilian casualties.
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US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said officials were evaluating potential war crimes – and warned there will be ‘massive consequences’ if Russia is found to have targeted civilians.
And President Joe Biden branded Vladimir Putin a ‘war criminal’ for his unprovoked attacks on Ukraine, in his strongest condemnation of Russian counterpart yet.
Mr Biden was speaking ‘from his heart’ about the ‘barbaric actions by a brutal dictator,’ White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
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