UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR: Russian forces pushed deeper into Ukraine's besieged and battered port city of Mariupol on Saturday, where heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant.
“Children, elderly people are dying. The city is destroyed and it is wiped off the face of the earth,” Mariupol police officer Michail Vershnin said from a rubble-strewn street in a video addressed to Western leaders that was authenticated by The Associated Press.
The Mariupol city council claimed hours later that Russian soldiers had forcibly relocated several thousand city residents, mostly women and children, to Russia. It didn't say where in Russia and the AP could not immediately confirm the claim. It isn't clear how many marines were inside the barracks when the missile struck and rescuers were still searching the rubble for survivors on Saturday. But a senior Ukrainian military official who spoke to The New York Times on the condition of anonymity to reveal sensitive information estimated that as many as 40 marines were killed, which would make it one of the deadliest known attacks on Ukrainian forces of the war.
The rally took place as Russia has faced heavier-than-expected losses on the battlefield and increasingly authoritarian rule at home, where Russian police have detained thousands of antiwar protesters. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Saturday the U.S. couldn't confirm that the Russians used a hypersonic missile in the attack.
The northwestern Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel, Irpin and Moshchun were under fire on Saturday, the Kyiv regional administration reported. It said Slavutich, located 165 kilometers north of the capital, was “completely isolated." Putin spoke by phone Saturday with Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, which is the second time this week the two talked. According to the Kremlin’s readout of the call, Putin “outlined fundamental assessments of the course of the talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives,” while Bettel informed him about “contacts with the leadership of Ukraine and other countries.”
A satellite image from Maxar Technologies released Saturday confirmed earlier reports that much of the theater was destroyed. It also showed the word “CHILDREN” still written in Russian in large white letters outside the building.
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