300 feared dead in Russian strike on Mariupol theatre last week: Officials

Officials in Mariupol, Ukraine’s vital port city, said on Friday that they suspected 300 people died in a Russian hit on a theatre where hundreds were sheltering last week.

“From eyewitnesses, information is emerging that about 300 people died in the Drama Theatre of Mariupol following strikes by a Russian aircraft,” Mariupol city hall wrote on Telegram.

Following the hit, President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed last week that hundreds of people, mostly women and children, had taken refuge in the building at the time of the attack.

The theatre was destroyed in a “cynical” attack, according to Mariupol city hall, and Russia knew citizens were taking sanctuary in the facility.

Zelensky says nearly 100,000 people are trapped without food, water or power in the besieged city and enduring fierce shelling by Russian forces.

The leader of the Russia’s southern republic of Chechnya said Thursday that forces from his region had taken control of Mariupol city hall and hoisted the Russian flag.