Survivors begin to emerge from Mariupol theatre bombed by Russia, officials say

Russian airstrikes in the besieged city of Mariupol, while ferocious Russian bombardment killed dozens in a northern city over the past day, the local governor said.The strikes the previous evening had left a large section of the grand, three-storey theatre building in the centre of Mariupol collapsed in a smoking ruin, according to photos released by the city council.Inside, hundreds of men, women and children — up to 1,000 according to some officials — had taken shelter in the basement, seeking safety amid Russia’s strangulating three-week siege of the strategic southern port city in Ukraine.Rescuers worked to clearing rubble that had blocked the entrance to the basement, despite new strikes reported elsewhere in the city Thursday.

Miraculously, the shelter stood firm, officials said.“The building withstood the impact of a high-powered air bomb and protected the lives of people hiding in the bomb shelter,” Ukraine’s ombudswoman Ludmyla Denisova said on the Telegram messaging app Thursday.She and Ukrainian parliament member Sergiy Taruta said some survivors had emerged. “People are coming out alive,” Taruta wrote on Facebook, though he did not say how many.It was not known if there were injuries or deaths among those inside.

Another lawmaker, Lesia Vasylenko, who was in London in a delegation visiting Parliament Thursday, said there were reports of injuries but no deaths.At least as recently as Monday, huge white letters on the pavement in front of and behind the theatre spelled out “CHILDREN” in Russian to alert warplanes of those inside, according to images released by the Maxar space technology company.The Russian defence ministry denied bombing the theatre or anywhere else in Mariupol on Wednesday.The strike against.