LVIV: Rescue workers were searching for survivors in the rubble of a theatre in the besieged city of Mariupol on Thursday, after Ukraine said a powerful Russian air strike hit the building where hundreds of people had been sheltering from the war.
The port city is encircled by Russian forces and has seen fierce bombardment. A statement from the city council said that about 30,000 residents had managed to escape so far, but more than 350,000 remained stuck there.
"The heart is breaking from what Russia does to our people, our Mariupol, and our Donetsk region," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a late night address on Wednesday, after referring to the theatre attack.
The city council said hundreds of people, mostly women, children and the elderly, had been hiding in the theatre and a nearby swimming pool building because of heavy shelling.
"Information about the victims is still being clarified," it said.
Earlier, Petro Andrushchenko, an adviser to the city's mayor, said some people survived the blast and the bomb shelter had held. Emergency workers were looking for them in the rubble.
Russia has denied bombing the theatre.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that the allegation that Russia had bombed the theatre was a "lie", and repeated Kremlin denials that Russian forces have targeted civilians since the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
"Russia's armed forces don't bomb towns and cities," she told in a briefing.
HUNGER IN A BUNKER
Satellite images of the theatre taken earlier this week before it was struck show a large structure with a red roof and the Russian word for "children" painted in large white letters on the tarmac at the front and back.
Mariupol council said the physical damage to the city had been "enormous". It estimated that around 80% of the city's homes had been destroyed, of which almost 30% was beyond repair.
On the outskirts of town, Reuters reporters saw people leaving on foot and in cars, some pushing their belongings in shopping carts. In the background there were badly burned and bombed apartment blocks, some still smouldering.
Oksana Zalavska, 42, fled Mariupol two days ago and is now in Zaporizhzhia. The mother of a three-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl had been staying in an overcrowded bomb shelter where adults ate one tiny meal a day as rations were low.
"Now I know everything about starvation in 2022," she told Reuters.
The International Committee of the Red Cross called on the warring parties on Thursday to let people leave Mariupol safely and to allow aid in.
Up to 40 ICRC staff and their families had to flee the port along with other civilians on Wednesday, because they had "no operational capacity any more," the organisation's head Peter Maurer told a news conference.
Zalavska and her family tried to escape Mariupol once before, on March 6, when they heard a safe corridor had opened. But she said Russian shelling continued and so they rushed back to their shelter. On the second attempt they pushed on.
"To tell the truth we were ready to die," she said. "We could die in a bomb shelter or we could die trying to get to freedom. We did not have a choice."
READ MORE: Latest development on Ukraine-Russia crisis
Reuters
Fri Mar 18 2022
A view shows Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama destroyed by an airstrike amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 16, 2022. - Press service of the Donetsk Regional Civil-Military/via REUTERS
Pelajar tahfiz perlu teroka bidang teknologi
Kira-kira 200,000 pelajar tahfiz di negara ini, perlu dipastikan untuk mempunyai kemampuan dan peluang menjadi tenaga penggerak kepada umat Islam Malaysia dalam meneroka bidang yang dahulu dilihat sebagai asing., tegas Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Perpaduan rakyat prasyarat ekonomi mampan
Tidak semua negara Islam mempunyai ruang dan kesempatan untuk terus aman dan damai, dan mempunyai peluang untuk menikmati ekonomi yang kukuh dan berkembang seperti Malaysia, tegas Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Beliau berkata, rakyat Malaysia perlu mempunyai tekad untuk memahami maksud dan keperluan perpaduan di kalangan mereka, serta kekuatan dalaman yang seterusnya dapat dijadikan tonggak untuk negara membuat langkah seterusnya.
Beliau berkata, rakyat Malaysia perlu mempunyai tekad untuk memahami maksud dan keperluan perpaduan di kalangan mereka, serta kekuatan dalaman yang seterusnya dapat dijadikan tonggak untuk negara membuat langkah seterusnya.
Tidak perlu tergesa-gesa tukar ke lesen B - JPJ
Pemegang Lesen Memandu Malaysia (LMM) Kelas B2 dan B1 tidak perlu tergesa-gesa mendaftar Program Khas Peralihan LLM Kelas B2/B1 Kepada LMM Kelas B kerana tiada had masa ditetapkan untuk permohonan.
KPWKM teruskan lapan inisiatif bantu warga emas
Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat (KPWKM) akan terus menggerakkan lapan inisiatif utama dalam memenuhi keperluan jagaan dan sistem sokongan terhadap warga emas.
Warga emas maut ditikam anak kandung yang berhalusinasi
Seorang pesara guru maut ditikam anak kandungnya sendiri di sebuah rumah dekat Kampung Senaling, di sini, petang Sabtu.
Menurut Ketua Polis Daerah Kuala Pilah, Superintendan Amran Mohd Ghani, siasatan awal mendapati warga emas berusia 65 tahun itu cuba memujuk anak lelakinya yang juga pemegang kad orang kurang upaya (OKU) mental yang dikatakan mahu membunuh diri.
Menurut Ketua Polis Daerah Kuala Pilah, Superintendan Amran Mohd Ghani, siasatan awal mendapati warga emas berusia 65 tahun itu cuba memujuk anak lelakinya yang juga pemegang kad orang kurang upaya (OKU) mental yang dikatakan mahu membunuh diri.
Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Berikut adalah berita yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang Sabtu, 5 Oktober 2024.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Hezbollah lancar serangan peluru berpandu ke atas kompleks industri ketenteraan di utara Israel
Pergerakan Hezbollah di Lubnan berkata mereka telah melancarkan serangan peluru berpandu ke atas kemudahan ATA Defence Industries.
Tiada kaitan dengan pelantikan CEO MDEC, Anuar Fariz bukan adik saya - Fahmi
Menteri Komunikasi Fahmi Fadzil menyangkal dakwaan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif (CEO) baharu Perbadanan Ekonomi Digital Malaysia (MDEC) Anuar Fariz Fadzil merupakan adiknya.
Israel lakukan persiapan untuk serang Iran - Laporan
Tentera Israel sedang bersiap untuk "tindakan balas besar-besaran dan ekstrem" terhadap Iran.
Krisis Rusia-Ukraine: Tentera Ukraine sembunyi di Azovstal didesak serah diri
Rusia mendesak tentera Ukraine dan pejuang asing yang bersembunyi di loji metalurgi Azovstal di Mariupol meletak senjata jika mereka mahu terus hidup.
Krisis Rusia-Ukraine: Rusia buka koridor kemanusiaan bermula Isnin
Koridor berkenaan mula dibuka pada 10 pagi waktu Moscow (0700 GMT) dari bandar Mariupol ke timur dan barat.
Mariupol penting buat Rusia - Menteri Luar Ukraine
Kuleba berkata, jatuhnya Mariupol bermakna Ukraine kehilangan akses ke Laut Azov.
Hospital bersalin, kanak-kanak Ukraine terkena serangan Rusia
Ekoran serangan itu, terdapat orang dewasa dan kanak-kanak terperangkap di bawah serpihan bangunan.