Russian forces struck a Red Cross facility in the besieged Ukraine port city of Mariupol, Kyiv said Wednesday, where officials have warned of an unfolding humanitarian disaster.
'In Mariupol, the occupiers aimed at the building of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),' Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said in a statement on social media, adding the building was targeted by aircraft and artillery.
The attack came a day after the ICRC urged Ukraine and Russia to agree on the delivery of aid and safe evacuation of civilians from the city where vitals are quickly running out.
In #Mariupol the occupiers fired on purpose at the building with the mark of the "Red Cross" - said the regiment "Azov"
— Anonymous Operations (@AnonOpsSE) March 30, 2022
“The only ones who violated the rules of warfare were the troops of Nazi Germany, who also fired at houses and vehicles marked with red crosses.” pic.twitter.com/wFQkmJj049
Earlier, apocalyptic drone footage showed the level of destruction in the city, where they mayor's office today claimed Vladimir Putin's troops have abducted 70 women and medics from a maternity hospital and taken them to Russia.
Mariupol has been all-but razed by Moscow's forces, with the shocking aerial video showing the sheer scale of the destruction of what was a picturesque port city home to 400,000 people before Putin's invasion on February 24.
Now, more than 20,000 of the city's residents have been taken 'against their will' to Russia, where their identity documents were confiscated and before they were moved 'to Russian cities far away,' the mayor's office said on its Telegram channel.
'More than 70 people, women and medical personnel from maternity hospital No. 2 from the left bank district were taken by force by the occupiers,' the office said.
The information could not be independently verified as Mariupol has been under a month-long siege and intense bombardment, with communication largely cut off.
Another maternity hospital in Mariupol was struck by Russian bombardment on March 9, sparking international condemnation.
At least three people including one child died in the attack.
Russian officials both dismissed the attack as being staged by Ukraine and justified it by claiming the hospital was being used by extremist Ukrainian forces and that all medical personnel and patients had long been gone.
The aerial drone footage released today shows destroyed buildings stretching as far as the eye can see. Just one building seemingly remains unscathed amongst the rubble - the city's stunning Russian orthodox Cathedral.
Commentators have said this is yet more proof that the Kremlin's forces attacks on the surrounding civilian buildings have been deliberate, as it appears that they have been able to avoid striking the historic building.
The footage also shows the ruins of the city's theatre that was destroyed in an airstrike on March 16. At the time, it was being used as a civilian shelter, and was attacked despite the word 'children' being written in large letters outside.
Estimates of the number of people inside the theatre have varied, with initial reports suggesting as many as 1,300 people were taking shelter.
Russian shelling has meant officials have not been able to get close enough to the theatre to assess full scale of the destruction, but as many as 300 people are believed to have been killed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday called the Russian siege of Mariupol a 'crime against humanity'.
The president said some 20,000 people are believed to have been killed in the conflict so far, though the number of casualties could not be independently verified.
Russia bombs Red Cross building in Mariupol https://t.co/AAuLkH8d6d
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 30, 2022
Negotiations between Russian and Ukraine saw little progress for the estimated 160,000 people still trapped with little food, water or medicine in Mariupol.
Russian forces have encircled the city and their steady and indiscriminate bombardment has killed at least 5,000 people, but possibly as many as 20,000, according to one senior Ukrainian official.
France, Greece and Turkey have been trying to organise a mass evacuation of civilians from the city, but talks between French President Emmanuel Macron and Putin ended Tuesday without a deal.
The proposal has for the time being been rejected by the Kremlin.
Aid groups have called regularly for access to Mariupol, decrying hellish conditions, and Ukrainian officials have accused Russian troops of forcibly deporting residents to Russia.
Civilians who have managed to escape Mariupol describe a place with 'death everywhere'.
'We buried our neighbours, we saw death everywhere and even my children saw it,' said Mariia Tsymmerman, who fled to Zaporizhzhia two weeks ago but is now making the perilous journey back to deliver supplies and help others leave.
'I know a woman who killed her own dog to feed her children,' she said.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
