Russia-Ukraine War: Mariupol Theater holds 'hundreds' of bombs

Ukrainian authorities said it was "impossible to determine the number of shooting victims" because Russia denies carrying out the attack.

Authorities in Ukraine have accused Russian troops of bombing a theater and swimming pool in the besieged southern city of Mariupol, where hundreds of civilians, including pregnant women and children, are said to have fled the conflict.

Pavlo Kirilenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, published photos and videos of the Mariupol Drama Theater and the Neptune Basin building in a telegram and said that "Russia deliberately attacked civilians after the bombings on Wednesday." Photographs show the center of the theatre, the building destroyed by the thick white smoke rising from the rubble. The swimming pool complex offers blown-in windows, doors, and roofs.

He said pregnant women and children were among the debris and condemned the attack as "pure terrorism." On Thursday morning, Ukrainian lawmaker Sergei Taruta said in a Facebook post that there were survivors of the attack on the theater, which contains an air-raid shelter.

"After a terrible night of uncertainty, there is finally good news from Mariupol on the morning of the 22nd day of the war! Bomb shelter delayed," he wrote.

"People are coming out alive!" he said, adding that debris clearing had begun. A satellite photo of the theater on March 14, shared by private satellite company Maxar, clearly shows the words "Children" in Russian carved into the ground on both sides of the building.

However, according to RIA, Russia's Defense Ministry denied attacking the building and accused the Azov Battalion, a right-wing Ukrainian militia, of blowing it up. It has not shown any evidence to support the claim. Authorities in Mariupol dismissed Russia's claims as "lies."

Kirilenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said Russia "knows very well that there are only children." Mariupol City Council estimates that hundreds of people were in the building at the attack time. "The invaders destroyed the theater of drama. We will never condone that," Mariupol City Council said in a Telegram post.

Human Rights Watch said the theater accommodated at least 500 civilians. "This raises serious concerns about targeted targets in a city where civilians have been under siege for days and where telecommunications, electricity, water, and heating are almost completely shut off," said Belkis Ville, senior human rights researcher at Conflict and Crisis Group.