Dramatic rescue in Mariupol: they search for survivors in the theater attacked by Russia and claim that the shelter remains standing

On Thursday, a mayor's office spokesman said that the bomb shelter located under the theater in the besieged city of Mariupol had resisted the Russian air strike and the survivors were believed to be trapped under the him.

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of dropping a powerful bomb on a theater of operations where it says hundreds of civilians, including many children, were sheltering during the siege fenced port city for more than two weeks.

Russia denies the bombing of the theater.

“The air raid shelter is being held. The trash is now removed. There are survivors. We still do not know (how many) victims, “- told Reuters by phone adviser to the mayor Petro Andrushchenko.

For his part, Ukrainian MP Dmitry Gurin, whose parents were trapped in this city, confirmed to the BBC that the bomb shelter has survived.” A few minutes ago we received information that the bomb shelter was preserved and that the people who were there survived,” he told the TV channel.

According to Andrushchenko, rescue work is underway to get to the survivors and establish the number of victims, which is still unknown. Ukrainian MP Serhiy Taruta, the former governor of the Donetsk region, where Mariupol is located, later said on Facebook that some managed to escape from the building alive, but did not specify anything.

According to Andryushchenko, up to 1000 people took refuge there. But he condemned that reconstruction efforts were hampered by Russian forces, which continued to bomb the city.

The picture, published by the mayor's office of Mariupol, shows a whole part of the grandiose three-story theater, demolished after the terrorist attack on Wednesday evening. Hundreds of people took refuge in this building, sheltering from the suffocating Russian siege of the strategic port city of the Sea of Azov, which began three weeks ago.

At least from Monday on the sidewalk at the elegant theater appeared large letters that formed the word “CHILDREN” in Russian, judging by the images widespread space Maxar technology company.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that the accusation that Russia blew up the theater was a “lie”.

He reiterated that the Kremlin denied that Russian troops attacked civilian areas after the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. “Russian armed forces are not bombing towns and cities,” he said at a press conference despite mounting evidence to the contrary

( With information from Reuters and AP)

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