300 Ukrainians killed in Russian airstrike on Mariupol theatre, say officials

Ukrainian authorities in the besieged ruins of Mariupol said Friday that about 300 people died when a Russian airstrike blew up a theatre where hundreds of civilians were sheltering — a catastrophic loss of civilian life that, if confirmed, is likely to further crank up pressure on western nations to step up military aid.In a vain attempt to protect those inside the grand, columned theatre from missile and airstrikes that Russia has rained down on cities, an enormous inscription reading “CHILDREN” in Russian was posted outside the building and was visible from the air.For days, the government in the battered port city was unable to give a casualty count for the March 16 attack.

The post on its Telegram channel Friday cited eyewitnesses. It was not immediately clear whether emergency workers had finished excavating the theatre ruins or how witnesses arrived at the horrific figure of lives lost.Still, the emerging picture of gruesome casualties could refocus attention on the refusal thus far of countries from the NATO alliance to supply warplanes or fly patrols over Ukraine’s airspace.

The country’s embattled president has repeatedly pleaded for those measures to protect against such strikes. How the war in Ukraine stands a month after Russia’s invasion — and what may be next Soon after the attack, Ludmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliament’s human rights commissioner, said more than 1,300 people had been inside, many whose homes were destroyed in Russia’s siege of the city.The building had a relatively modern basement bomb shelter, and some survivors did emerge from the rubble after the attack.The new reported death toll came a day after U.S.