Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian airstrike has destroyed a theater housing hundreds of people in besieged Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said as Russian President Vladimir Putin called for “self-cleansing” to rid his country of anyone who doubts his invasion.
Wednesday’s shelling of a theater that has been turned into a makeshift shelter as fighting has engulfed the port city and left thousands homeless over the past three weeks has left many people buried under burning rubble, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement. It is not known how many people were killed or injured.
At least as recently as Monday, the pavement in front of and behind the once-elegant theater was marked with huge white letters reading “CHILDREN” in Russian, according to images released by space technology company Maxar.
“My heart is breaking at what Russia is doing to our people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday evening, hours after he delivered a video message to the US Congress that drew several standing ovations.
The Russian Defense Ministry denies bombing the theater or anywhere else in Mariupol on Wednesday.
The six countries called for a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Thursday afternoon ahead of an expected vote on Friday on a Russian resolution demanding the protection of Ukrainian civilians “in vulnerable situations” but making no mention of Moscow’s responsibility for the war.
“Russia is committing war crimes and targeting civilians,” the British UN mission tweeted, announcing the convening of a meeting joined by the US, France and others. “Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine poses a threat to all of us.”
Russian attacks have hit towns and villages across much of Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, where residents huddle in homes and shelters.
A fire broke out in a Kiev apartment building Thursday morning after it was hit by the remnants of a downed Russian missile, killing one person and injuring at least three, according to emergency services. Firefighters evacuated 30 people from the upper floors of the 16-story building and extinguished the flames within an hour.
Putin went on television to denounce the Russians for not supporting him, despite both sides expressing optimism about efforts to negotiate a cessation of hostilities.
The Russians “will always be able to distinguish real patriots from scum and traitors and just spit them out like a mosquito that accidentally flew into their mouth,” he said. “I am convinced that such a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country.”
He said the West was using a “fifth column” of traitorous Russians to stir up civil unrest.
“And there is only one goal, I have already spoken about it – the destruction of Russia,” he said.
The speech was a warning that his authoritarian rule, which has tightened since the February 24 invasion began by shutting down Russian news outlets and arresting protesters, could become even more repressive.
In a sign of this, Russian law enforcement has announced the first known criminal cases under a new law that provides for a 15-year prison sentence for posting what is considered “false information” about the war in Ukraine. Among the defendants was Veronika Belotserkovskaya, a Russian-language cookbook author and blogger living abroad.
But it also came amid signs that negotiations are finally moving forward.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after Tuesday’s meeting that the two sides were “seriously discussing” Ukraine’s neutral military status, while Zelenskiy said Russia’s demands for an end to the war were becoming “more realistic.”
Wednesday’s talks, which were held via video link, seem to have delved deeper into technical details.
Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said that Ukraine demands a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and guarantees of Ukraine’s security from several countries.
“This is only possible with a direct dialogue” between Zelensky and Putin,” he tweeted.
A Zelenskiy office official told The Associated Press that the main topic of discussion was whether Russian troops would remain in separatist regions in eastern Ukraine after the war and where the borders would be.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate talks, said Ukraine was pushing for the inclusion of one or more Western nuclear powers in the talks and for a legally binding document with security guarantees for Ukraine. In return, the official said, Ukraine is ready to discuss a neutral status.
Russia demanded that NATO pledge never to accept Ukraine into the alliance and not to deploy its forces there.
Earlier Wednesday, Zelenskiy spoke via video link to the US Congress and, citing Pearl Harbor and 9/11, pleaded with America to provide more weapons and tougher sanctions against Russia, saying, “We need you right now.”
US President Joe Biden announced that the US will send additional $800 million in military aid to Ukraine. He also called Putin a “war criminal” in his harshest denunciation since the invasion began.
While Moscow’s ground offensive against the Ukrainian capital has largely stalled, Putin has previously said the operation is “successful, in strict accordance with pre-approved plans.” He also denounced Western sanctions against Moscow, accusing the West of trying to “put pressure on us, put pressure on us, turn us into a weak, dependent country.”
The UN estimates that the fighting has forced more than 3 million people to leave Ukraine. The death toll remains unknown, although Ukraine has said thousands of civilians have died.
Speaking before Congress, Zelensky said that Russia “turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death.” But Biden has turned down Zelenskiy’s requests to send military jets to Ukraine or establish a no-fly zone, fearing a war between the US and Russia.
Nowhere was more hit than the besieged city of Mariupol, where more than 2,300 people have been killed in rocket attacks and shelling, local authorities say. The southern seaport, with a population of 430,000, was attacked for almost the entire three-week war under a siege that left people fighting for food, water, warmth and medicine.
Using his mobile phone’s flashlight to illuminate the basement of the hospital, Dr. Valery Drengar pulled back the blanket to reveal the body of a 22-day-old baby. The other wrapped bodies also turned out to be children.
“These are the people we couldn’t save,” said Drengar.
___
Associated Press writer Yuriy Karmanov from Lviv, Ukraine, and other AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.