KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — The government of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol says 300 people died in a Russian airstrike on March 16 on a theater being used as a bomb shelter.
The post-Friday on the city government Telegram channel cited eyewitnesses for the toll of "about 300."
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It was not immediately clear whether emergency workers had finished excavating the site or how the eyewitnesses arrived at the horrific death toll.
When the theater was struck, an enormous inscription reading "CHILDREN" was posted outside in Russian, intended to be visible from the skies above.
Soon after the airstrike, the Ukrainian Parliament's human rights commissioner said more than 1,300 people had been sheltering in the building.