Mariupol’s local government, citing witnesses, has said about 300 people were killed last week when Russian forces struck a theatre in the besieged city that was being used as a makeshift bomb shelter.
The southeastern port city’s authorities provided the toll in a Telegram post.
Soon after the bombing, Ludmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliament’s human rights commissioner, said more than 1,300 people had been sheltering in the building. Russia has denied attacking the theatre and targeting civilians amid its offensive.
Mass graves
The head of the UN’s human rights team in Ukraine says that monitors have received increasing information on mass graves in Mariupol, including one that appeared to hold 200 bodies.
“We have got increasing information on mass graves that are there,” Matilda Bogner told journalists by video link from Ukraine, saying some of the evidence came from satellite images.
