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Survivors have begun to emerge from the basement shelter of a Ukraine theater targeted by Russian airstrikes in the besieged city of Mariupol, as casualties throughout the country mount.
The airstrikes from Wednesday night had left a large section of the grand, 3-three story theater building in the center of Mariupol collapsed in a smoking ruin, according to photos released by the city council. Inside, hundreds of men, women and children — up to 1,000 according to some officials — had taken shelter in the basement, seeking safety amid Russia’s strangulating 3-week siege of the strategic southern port city.
Rescuers worked to clear the rubble that had blocked the entrance to the basement, despite new strikes reported elsewhere in the city Thursday. Miraculously, the shelter stood firm, officials said.
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“The building withstood the impact of a high-powered air bomb and protected the lives of people hiding in the bomb shelter,” Ukraine’s ombudswoman Ludmyla Denisova said on the Telegram messaging app Thursday.
RUSSIAN FORCES BOMBED MARIUPOL THEATER DESPITE SIGNS WARNING CHILDREN WERE SHELTERING INSIDE: UKRAINE
She and Ukrainian parliament member Sergiy Taruta said some survivors had emerged. “People are coming out alive,” Taruta wrote on Facebook, though he did not say how many.
It was not known if there were injuries or deaths among those inside.
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The United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner reported that as of Wednesday, 726 people had been killed, including 674 adults and 52 children. Meanwhile, 1,174 people were injured, including 63 kids, the office said.
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
A view of a damaged settlements, located in Sartana, where citizens of Greek origin live, and 17 km from the city of Mariupol, near the banks of the Kalmius river, and citizens try to shelter in basements after bombings by Russian forces, in pro-Russian separatists-controlled Donetsk, Ukraine on March 16, 2022. (Photo by Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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A woman and children sheild from shelling in a school bomb shelter in Sartana village which is under the Government of the Donetsk People’s Republic control, 17 km ( 11 miles) northeast of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
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Maxar collected satellite imagery of Mariupol, Ukraine on March 14th that included the Mariupol Drama Theater which was bombed on March 16th. This building had been used as a shelter for hundreds of Ukrainian civilians. Notably, on the March 14th satellite imagery, the word children is written in large white letters (in Russian) in front of and behind the theater. (Satellite image (c) 2022 Maxar Technologies/Getty Images)
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A person mourns next to a wrapped body near a residential building which was hit by the debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv on March 17, 2022. (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)
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EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / A member of Ukrainian security services identifies a wrapped body near a residential building which was hit by the debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv on March 17, 2022. (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)
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An aerial view shows firemen working in the rubble of a residential building which was hit by the debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv on March 17, 2022. (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)
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A man walks near a residential building which was hit by the debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv on March 17, 2022. (Photo by GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images)
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A member of Ukrainian security services looks at a wrapped body near a residential building which was hit by the debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv on March 17, 2022. (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)
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An aerial view shows firemen working in the rubble of a residential building which was hit by the debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv on March 17, 2022. (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)
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A man covers a dead body after a residential buildings hit by a Russian attack in Chernihiv, Ukraine on March 17, 2022. (Photo by State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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A man covers a dead body after a residential buildings hit by a Russian attack in Chernihiv, Ukraine on March 17, 2022. (Photo by State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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People clear debris outside a medical center damaged after parts of a Russian missile, shot down by Ukrainian air defense, landed on a nearby apartment block, according to authorities, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
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An apartment building is damaged after parts of a Russian missile, shot down by Ukrainian air defense, landed in a residential area, according to authorities, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
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People clear debris outside a medical center damaged after parts of a Russian missile, shot down by Ukrainian air defense, landed on a nearby apartment block , according to authorities, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
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A fireman inspects the damage in a residential building which was hit by the debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv on March 17, 2022. (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)
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A newborn baby is dressed on a changing table in Kyiv, Ukraine on March 17, 2022. Surrogate-born babies cannot reunite with their biological families due to ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine. (Photo by Emin Sansar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Members of the German government listen to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his virtual address to the parliament Bundestag at the Reichstag Building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
