Posing in the theatre they destroyed

Its destruction fuelled allegations Moscow is committing war crimes by killing civilians during the Ukraine war.

Hundreds were killed in the attack on the Mariupol theatre while it was being used as a shelter. It was bombarded despite the Russian word for children being written in large white letters on the ground outside.

Now an apparent PR drive by the Russian forces have revealed its internal devastation for the first time.

The pictures from a photographer embedded with the Russian military emerged yesterday while the fierce battle for the city continues.

They showed troops inside taking smartphone pictures of the wreckage around them.

One picture even apparently showed Russian troops handing bread to civilians, in a city which their offensives had starved of supplies for weeks.

Outside, corpses are now said to be “carpeted through the streets” of Mariupol, with fears of more than 10,000 civilian deaths.

The south-eastern port city has seen some of the heaviest attacks and civilian suffering in the six-week war, but the land, sea and air assaults by Russian forces fighting to capture it have meant information on circumstances inside the city has been limited.

Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko accused Russian forces of having blocked humanitarian convoys into the city for weeks, motivated in part by a desire to conceal the carnage.

He also gave new details of allegations by Ukrainian officials that Russian forces have taken cremation equipment to Mariupol to dispose of the corpses of victims of the siege.

Russian forces have taken many bodies to a huge shopping

centre where there are storage facilities and refrigerators, Mr Boychenko said.

He spoke from a location in Ukrainian-controlled territory outside Mariupol.

The mayor said he had several sources for his description of the alleged methodical burning of bodies by Russian forces in the city.

With their offensive in many parts of the country thwarted, Russian forces have relied increasingly on bombarding

cities, a strategy that has flattened many urban areas and killed thousands of people.

The UN children’s agency said nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children have fled their homes in the six weeks since Russia’s invasion began.

The United Nations has verified 142 children have been killed and 229 injured, though the actual numbers are likely to be much higher.

0 The central avenue of the south-eastern port city has seen some of the heaviest attacks and civilian suffering in the six-week war

0 A Russian soldier on the streets of the city where it is feared there have been more than 10,000 civilian deaths.

0 People wait in line for food in Mariupol where corpses are Russian forces of having blocked humanitarian convoys into

0 A soldier climbs the stairs in the Mariupol theatre which was being used as a shelter when it was attacked

A Russian soldier takes a picture on his phone as he patrols

0 Bread is handed out to survivors in Mariupol

2 Russian soldiers and volunteers apparently distribute bread in Mariupol after weeks of starving the city of supplies. With their offensive in many parts of the country thwarted, Russian forces have relied increasingly on bombarding cities, a strategy that has flattened many urban areas and killed thousands of people

3 The pictures from a photographer embedded with the Russian forces emerged yesterday while the fierce battle for the city continues. Snapper Alexander Nemenov’s visit was organised by the Russian military

said to carpet the streets. The mayor accuses the city for weeks to conceal the carnage

at the Mariupol drama theatre, which was hit by an airsrike on March 16 by an airstrike.