Putin’s forces have bombed an art school sheltering 400 civilians in Mariupol, the city’s council has said
Mariupol’s city council said Russian forces bombed an art school where 400 civilians, including children, were sheltering.
Thousands of residents of Mariupol have been forcibly deported to Russia and then sent by rail to various economically depressed cities where they have to remain, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman claimed.
An estimated 10 million people – more than a quarter of Ukraine’s population – have now fled their homes as a result of Russia’s “devastating” war, the head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
One of Europe’s largest metallurgical factories, the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, has been destroyed by the Russians, said Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister.
Russia has struck Ukraine with cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, and launched hypersonic missiles from Crimean airspace, the Russian defence ministry said.
An attack on a barracks in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on Friday killed more than 40 Marines, according to the New York Times. If confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest known attacks on Ukrainian forces during the war.
The Ukrainian parliament said 115 Ukrainian children have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion. It said at least 140 more had been injured.
Pope Francis described what is happening in Ukraine as “inhumane and sacrilegious”. Addressing tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square in Rome for his weekly blessing, he called on leaders to stop “this repugnant war”.
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