The city of Mariupol's government said Friday that about 300 people died in a Russian airstrike on a theater that was being used as a bomb shelter.
The theater was struck on March 16 and an enormous inscription was posted outside in Russian.
It was not clear if emergency workers had finished excavating the site or how the death toll was arrived at. More than 1,300 people had taken shelter in the building after the airstrike, according to the Ukrainian Parliament's human rights commissioner.
Mariupol has been the scene of some of the worst destruction of the war. The country used to be known as the breadbasket for the world, but now it is facing a shortage of food due to the misery inside.
Elderly women came to collect food and other supplies in the city of Kharkiv. Many relatives have left urns unclaimed in the main crematorium in the capital of Kyiv.
As the war rages into a second month, the days of plenty in the country are becoming just a fading memory.
The United States and the European Union announced a new partnership to reduce Europe's dependence on Russia.
Blocks of cheese are being counted in the war for hungry civilians in Ukraine, and it goes a long way.
A young girl in Kharkiv watched intently this week as a volunteer cut through a giant slab of cheese, carving out thick slices for each person waiting in line.
Spitsyna handed out food aid from the Red Cross to her neighbors. Each got a lump of the cheese that was cut under the child's gaze, dropped chunk by chunk into plastic bags that people in line held open like hungry mouths.
Spitsyna said that they brought aid for the elderly women who stayed here.
Russian forces are instead raining down shells and missiles on cities from afar because they were unable to sweep into Kyiv.
The outskirts of Kharkiv were covered in smoke Friday and shelling continued all day. A day after doctors treated a dozen civilians, several wounded soldiers arrived at the hospital. The sound of shelling could be heard in the surgery ward.
According to the Interfax news agency, Russia's military claimed Friday that it destroyed a massive Ukrainian fuel base used to supply the Kyiv region's defenses. There were videos on social media showing an explosion.
The misery has become unbearable for civilians. More than 10 million people have been displaced and at least 3.5 million have fled the country due to the refugee crisis. More than 260 people have died in the capital since the start of the war, and more than 80 buildings have been destroyed.
Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to keep up their military defense and not to stop.
We are getting closer to the peace that we need so much. There are over 200 schools and 155 kindergartens destroyed across the country. He said that cities and villages lie in ashes.
Zelenskyy begged the Western allies via video for planes, tanks, rockets, air defense systems and other weapons, saying that his country is defending its common values.
Zelenskyy thanked EU leaders for working together to support Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia in a video address. He said there was a chance that Russia would not have invaded if these steps had been taken earlier.
While millions of Ukrainians have fled west, Ukraine accused Moscow of forcibly removing hundreds of thousands of civilians from shattered cities to pressure it to give up. Over 400,000 people, including 84,000 children, have been taken against their will into Russia to be used as hostages.
The Kremlin gave the same number for those who have been relocated, but said they were from eastern Ukraine and wanted to go to Russia. In those regions, many people have supported close ties to Russia.
In other developments.
In the city of Chernihiv, where an airstrike this week destroyed a crucial bridge, a city official said a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding as Russian forces target food storage places. About 130,000 people are left in the city, which is half its prewar population.
Russia will allow safe passage for 67 ships from 15 countries that are stuck in Ukrainian ports because of the danger of shelling and mines.
The regional emergency services said that Russian forces fired two missiles at a Ukrainian military unit on the outskirts of Dnipro. The strikes destroyed buildings and set off fires. The number of dead and wounded was not known.
With the U.S. and others expanding sanctions on Russia, Moscow reopened its stock market but only to prevent mass sell-offs. Foreigners were not allowed to sell and traders were not allowed to short sell.
The Chernobyl nuclear plant is being affected by Russian shelling, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The city of Slavutych, home to many Chernobyl nuclear workers, is being put at risk because of the shelling by Russian forces.
Russia claimed that people were being coerced or lied to when they were relocated to Russia, while Kyiv said they were going willingly.
About 400,000 people have been evacuated to Russia and are being provided with accommodations and payments.
People are being forcibly moved into the territory of the aggressor state according to the governor of the Donetsk Region.
Mariupol, the devastated port city in the country's east, was among the 6,000 people charged by the Foreign Ministry.
The residents of Mariupol have been deprived of information and the Russians have been trying to convince them to move to Russia.
Russian lies may affect those who have been under siege.
There is a
Qena reported from Ukraine. The Associated Press journalists contributed to the report.
We can be reached at letters@time.com.
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