Ukraine Invasion: 300 Feared Dead In Russian Airstrike On Mariupol Theatre Last Week

Street fighting and aerial attacks are continuing in Mariupol and the city is completely cut off from the rest of Ukraine, as Russian forces are trying to seize control of the city.

Burning and destroyed high-rise apartment buildings in Mariupol. (Image: AFP)

New Delhi: As Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine completes a month since it started on February 24, it is being reported that at least 300 people could have died in last week's strike by Russian military forces on a theatre in the strategic port city of Mariupol.

Ukrainian officials told news agency AFP that hundreds of people, including children, were using the theatre as a bomb shelter when the airstrike took place. 

"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.

Street fighting and aerial attacks are continuing in Mariupol and the city is completely cut off from the rest of Ukraine, as Russian forces are trying to seize control of the city.

The Mariupol City Council had claimed that the Russian forces drop 50 to 100 bombs on the city on a daily basis. Eighty-ninety per cent of the buildings have been destroyed as a result, with irreparable damages.

The situation is desperate in the southern port of Mariupol, with as many as 300,000 civilians unable to evacuate. Mariupol has seen some of the fiercest battles since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.

Mariupol, located on the Sea of Azov, is said to be a strategic point for Russia, as it would help it create a land corridor between the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. These regions are largely controlled by Russian-backed separatists.