'Everything is a target for them': Zelensky's appeal after civilians struck in Mariupol

A Russian airstrike ripped apart a theatre where hundreds of people have been living in the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a 'self-purification' to rid his country of anyone who questions his invasion.

Some hope emerged, as an official said some people had managed to survive the Mariupol theatre strike.

A photo released by Mariupol's city council showed an entire section of the large, 3-storey theatre had collapsed after the strike Wednesday evening. Several hundred people had taken refuge in the building's basement, seeking safety amid Russia's 3-week, strangulating siege of the strategic Azov Sea port city.

At least as recently as Monday, the pavement in front of and behind the once-elegant theatre was marked with huge white letters spelling out “CHILDREN” in Russian, according to images released by the Maxar space technology company.

Rubble had buried the entrance to the shelter inside the theatre, and the number of casualties was unclear, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional administration, said on Telegram. Ukrainian parliament member Sergiy Taruta, a former governor of the Donetsk region where Mariupol is located, later said on Facebook that some people had managed to escape alive from the destroyed building. He did not provide any further details.