Mariupol theater bombing was deliberate war crime, report says
Russian forces deliberately dropped two 1,000-plus-pound bombs on the Mariupol theater that was being used as a shelter March 16, resulting in a mass killing of civilians that amounted to a war crime, according to evidence cited in a report by the rights group Amnesty International released Thursday.
The organization said there was no indication the theater was a base of operations for Ukrainian soldiers but rather served as refuge for civilians seeking protection from weeks of relentless bombardment.
The report comes days after a Russian airstrike in a shopping mall on the central Ukraine city of Kremenchuk killed at least 18 and wounded dozens. Russian authorities have denied targeting the mall.
The Amnesty team interviewed 52 survivors and first-hand witnesses.
Using satellite imagery from that morning, the organization determined the sky was consistently clear enough for any pilot to see the word “CHILDREN” written in huge Cyrillic letters in the front and back of the building.
Accounts of the death toll have varied. Mariupol officials initially estimated around 300.
An Associated Press investigation determined closer to 600 may have been killed. The Amnesty report could only confirm a dozen deaths while adding “it is likely that many additional fatalities remain unreported.”
Russia pulls forces out of strategic Snake Island
Russia withdrew its forces Thursday from Snake Island, a strategically important island that sits along a busy shipping lane in the Black Sea and has come to symbolize Ukrainian resistance to the invasion.
The island gained attention in February when a Russian warship demanded Ukrainian troops surrender or face bombardment and the soldiers responded with expletives.
The soldiers were captured and later freed during a prisoner exchange.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov called the withdrawal from Zmiyinyy (Snake) Island off Ukraine’s port of Odesa a “goodwill gesture” to demonstrate that the country is not interfering with the United Nations’ attempts to secure space for Ukraine to export agricultural products.
Biden to announce $800 million more in military aid to Ukraine
President Joe Biden said Thursday the U.S. will announce $800 million in additional military aid to Ukraine in the next few days.
The assistance will include new advanced air defense systems, more artillery, counter-battery radars and more ammunition, Biden said at a news conference during the conclusion of NATO’s annual meeting in Madrid.
“We are going to stick with Ukraine, and all of the alliance are going to stick with Ukraine as long as it takes to in fact make sure they are not defeated,” he said.
Putin still aims to claim most of Ukraine, US intelligence chief says
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not changed his goals in Ukraine even though they don’t seem realistic, the top U.S. intelligence official said Wednesday.
Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence, foresees a long, “grinding struggle” in which Russia retains the parts of the eastern Donbas region it already controls and consolidates its hold over the south by the fall but likely doesn’t get beyond that.
Speaking at an event in Washington, Haines said Putin “has effectively the same political goals that he had previously, which is to say that he wants to take most of Ukraine” and push it away from NATO.