KYIV: Rescue workers on Thursday dug survivors out of the rubble of a theatre in the besieged city of Mariupol which Ukraine said had been hit by a Russian air strike as people sheltered there from bombardments.

Russia denied striking the theatre. But its forces have blasted cities and killed many civilians in its assault on Ukraine, now entering its fourth week.

Officials from both sides met again on Thursday for peace talks, but they said their positions remained far apart.

Mariupol, a southern port city, has suffered the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the war, with hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in basements with no food, water or power as Russian forces pound it with artillery fire and air strikes.

Russia cancels vote on a ‘humanitarian’ resolution at UNSC after it failed to secure China and India’s support

City authorities said they were still not able to estimate the number of possible casualties from Wednesday’s alleged air strike on the theatre.

“Yesterday and today, despite continuous shelling, rubble is being cleared as much as is possible and people are being rescued. Infor­mation about victims is still being clarified,” the city council said in a statement. It provided no figures on the number of people rescued.

Commercial satellite pictures showed the word “children” had been marked out on the ground in front of the building before it was hit.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the allegation that Russia had bombed the theatre was a “lie”, and repeated Kremlin denials that Russian forces have targeted civilians. “Russia’s armed forces don’t bomb towns and cities,” she told a briefing.

Mariupol city council later said more than 350,000 people were still sheltering in the city and 30,000 had left. The assault on Ukraine started with troops crossing the border or landing by sea and air on Feb 24. But Western countries say its expectations of a swift victory and the removal of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government have been dashed and its invasion force has got bogged down.

Sides far apart

The war has settled into a grinding pattern of sieges of cities. The United Nations said 3.2 million civilians, mostly women and children, have now fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries. But the Russians have failed to capture a major city in the face of spirited resistance from Ukrainian forces.

British military intelligence said on Thursday the invasion had “largely stalled on all fronts”, and Russian forces were suffering heavy losses.

A fourth straight day of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators took place by video link, but the Kremlin said an agreement had yet to be reached.

“Our delegation is putting in colossal effort,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Our delegation... is ready to work around the clock — but unfortunately we don’t see such zeal from the Ukrainian side.”

Russia scraps UN vote

Russia has cancelled a UN Security Council vote on a “humanitarian” resolution on Ukraine, scheduled for Friday, due to a lack of support from its closest allies, diplomats said.

Moscow has failed to secure co-sponsorship of the draft text from China and India, suggesting that Beijing and New Delhi would not have supported it, an ambassador said on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2022