More than 20 people were killed and 25 more were injured when a Russian airstrike destroyed a school and community centre in Merefa, close to the north-east Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, local officials said.
The attack took place at 3.30am local time (1.30am GMT) on Thursday morning, the Kharkiv prosecutor’s office said. Ten people were in critical condition, it said.
In Mariupol about 130 people have been rescued so far from the basement of a theatre hit by a Russian airstrike in the city. Hundreds of people were hiding beneath the theatre, which was designated as a shelter for displaced civilians, when it was struck on Wednesday. About 30,000 civilians have fled the Ukrainian city so far, local authorities said. Mariupol’s city hall said “80% of residential housing was destroyed” and about 350,000 residents were hiding in shelters and basements in Mariupol. In addition to the bombing of its theatre, the city hall said a swimming pool sheltering civilians, “mostly women, children and the elderly”, had also been shelled.
In the meantime the mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city of Melitopol, who was allegedly abducted by Russian forces, was freed in exchange for nine captured Russian conscripts, according to the head of Ukraine’s presidential office.
Source: BBC
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