Some civilians that were hiding in the basement of a theatre in Ukraine that was bombed have survived in what a journalist on the ground has described as a 'miracle'. Illia Ponomarenko, defence reporter with The Kyiv Independent, wrote on social media that the survivors were being evacuated.
The reporter said: "It’s a miracle - civilians that were hiding in a basement at the Drama Theater in Mariupol survived the air strike. Now they are getting evacuated from underneath the ruins. We’re waiting for more info on how many have survived."
Earlier today the Russian air strike on Ukrainians sheltering in the theatre was said to be an act that "looks to be specific targeting" of a civilian building and a "self-evident breach of international law", by a Foreign Office minister. Images showed that an entire section of the three-storey building had collapsed after the strike on Wednesday evening.
Several hundred people had taken refuge in the building to seek safety from Moscow's three-week siege of the port city, with the pavements outside the venue marked with huge white letters spelling out "children" in Russian, according to images released by the Maxar space technology company.
James Cleverly said the attack appeared to be a "breach" of internationally-agreed armed conflict rules. He called for evidence to be documented of the assault to put together a war crime case.
The minister for Europe in the Foreign Office was asked on ITV's Good Morning Britain whether he thought the bombing of the shelter "looked like a war crime". The Russian defence ministry has denied bombing the theatre in Mariupol.
He said: "The targeting of civilian infrastructure is against international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict. Ultimately it is for international courts and tribunals to make the formal decision but self-evidently, this is civilian infrastructure which we've seen had the word 'Kids' painted in Russian outside of this building.
"This looks to be specific targeting of civilian infrastructure and, as I say, that is a self-evident breach of international law and the law of armed conflict."
Mr Cleverly said it was "incredibly important" that evidence of potential war crimes was collated so that "those people who are responsible for these, whether they are battlefield commanders, right up to the top of the organisation, can be held accountable once this war is concluded".
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