Russia accused of bombing shelter, kidnapping citizens
LVIV, Ukraine — Amid a growing consensus that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is morphing into a bloody stalemate that could last months, Ukrainian officials on Sunday blamed the Kremlin for a new spate of deadly attacks on civilian targets, including the bombing of an art school where hundreds had taken shelter.
Ukrainian officials also accused Russian forces of kidnapping several thousand residents of the besieged port city of Mariupol and deporting them against their will to “remote cities in Russia.”
Ukraine’s human rights spokesperson, Lyudmyla Denisova, said on Telegram that residents were being transported across the border to a Russian city about 60 miles from Mariupol and then sent by train farther into the Russian interior.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko likened the alleged deportations to the expulsion and slaughter of millions of Jews by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.
“What the occupiers are doing today is familiar to the older generation, who saw the horrific events of World War II,” Boychenko said.
The reports of forced removals could not be independently verified. Russia has not responded to the allegations, although Russian state media have reported that buses filled with what they described as refugees have been arriving from Ukraine in recent days.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN Sunday that she could not confirm the reports but added it would be “unconscionable for Russia to force Ukrainian citizens into Russia, and put them in what will basically be concentration and prisoner camps.”
Few journalists or humanitarian aid workers have been able to enter Mariupol, where machinegun battles rage daily between Russian forces and Ukrainian defenders, and a relentless stream of bombardments has severed communication lines and left residents desperate for food, water and escape.
The strategic city of some 400,000 on the Sea of Azov has become a vivid symbol of the devastation wrought by the unprovoked invasion, with massive craters opened by bombs and artillery shells and officials reporting that 90% of the city’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
Early Sunday, the city council of Mariupol said Russia had bombed Art School Number 12 in the city’s left-bank district, were some 400 people, including women and children, were said to be sheltering.
“It is known that the building was demolished and there are still peaceful people under the rubble,” the city council said. Ukrainian authorities provided no immediate word on casualties.
The strike followed a similar bombing Wednesday of a large Mariupol theater where more than 1,000 people were apparently taking shelter. Some 130 people were rescued but hundreds of others were believed to be trapped under the debris, Ukrainian officials said. Four days later, there was no official word on their fate, with officials reporting that intense fighting in the area had hindered rescue efforts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Moscow’s relentless assault on the city “will go down in history” as a war crime.
“The terror the occupiers did to the peaceful city will be remembered for centuries to come,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address, marking the 25th day since Russia invaded Ukraine. “And the more Ukrainians tell the world about it, the more support we find. The more Russia uses terror against Ukraine, the worse the consequences will be for it.”