Rescuers digging out Mariupol theatre’s basement after Russian strike

As rescue workers searched for survivors beneath the rubble of Mariupol’s bombed-out theatre, Russia pounded residential areas across Ukraine.

Rescue workers searched desperately for any survivors buried beneath the rubble of Mariupol’s bombed-out theatre on Friday, as Russia’s forces pounded residential areas across Ukraine, stoking allegations of war crimes.

Twenty-four hours after Mariupol’s once-gleaming whitewashed theatre was hollowed out by a Russian strike, the number of dead, injured or trapped is still unclear.

Ukraine’s ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said a bomb shelter in the building had survived the impact, and some “adults and children” had emerged alive.

“Work is under way to unlock the basement,” she said, amid fears that up to 1000 people may have been taking refuge underground at the time of the blast.

In the wake of the attack on a building marked with the words “DETI”, or “children” in Russian, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was “difficult to conclude” that Vladimir Putin’s regime had not engaged in war crimes by targeting civilians.

Russia has routinely denied such allegations and the Ministry of Defence has said it did not strike any ground targets in Mariupol on the afternoon the theatre was hit. It instead claimed Ukraine’s hardline nationalist Azov battalion, a frequent target of Russian propaganda, mined the theatre and held civilian hostages there in “a new bloody provocation”.

Russia’s siege of the city – cutting power, as well as many communications links and food supplies – has closed access and made independent verification all but impossible.

Local officials say more than 2000 people have died so far in indiscriminate shelling, and 80 per cent of its housing has been destroyed. “In the streets, there are the bodies of many dead civilians,” Tamara Kavunenko, 58, said after fleeing the city. “It’s not Mariupol any more,” she said. “It is hell.”

Local MP Sergiy Taruta said Russian forces’ blockade of the city, killing of medics and destroying emergency equipment, was stymieing rescue efforts. He said some people had emerged from the wreckage, but warned: “All those who survived the bombing will either die under the rubble of the theatre or have already died.”

With stop-start peace talks ongoing, officials in Kyiv said Russia had agreed to nine humanitarian corridors on Thursday for fleeing refugees, including one out of Mariupol.

As Russia’s ground advance has stalled under fierce Ukrainian resistance, Moscow has increasingly turned to air and long-range strikes to gain the upper hand. According to Pentagon estimates, Russia has now fired more than 1000 missiles at Ukrainian targets since the war began three weeks ago.

Early on Friday air raid alarms again rang in cities from Kyiv in the north to Odessa in the south and Kharkiv in the east. Russian troops are now 15km from Kyiv.

In his latest late-night video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted the situation in several Ukrainian cities was “difficult”.

But, he said, “we will not leave you behind and we will not forgive them. You will be free”.

AFP