Russian forces have been accused of committing a war crime after a theatre where hundreds of civilians were sheltering in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol was attacked on Wednesday night.
The theatre was clearly marked with the word ‘CHILDREN’ in large Russian letters on two sides of the building, according to satellite images from Maxar Technologies released last week. The company said the images, taken on March 13th and 14th, show that the word ‘CHILDREN’ was painted on the ground near the theatre, on both the Mariupol Drama Theatre and an adjacent building.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of deliberately targeting the theatre, saying it was sheltering more than 1,000 people, including women and children. Mariupol city council said on Thursday that more than 130 people had been rescued from the rubble, but that hundreds more were still trapped.
Russia has denied targeting the theatre, and instead accused the Ukrainian nationalist Azov Battalion of blowing it up to frame Russia. However, there is no evidence to support this claim, and it has been rejected by Ukrainian officials.
The attack on the theatre has been widely condemned as a war crime. The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said it was .
