‘Pure Terrorism’: Mariupol Officials Say Russians Bombed Theater with Over 1,000 Civilians Sheltering Inside

Russia was accused on Wednesday by Ukrainian authorities of dropping a bomb on the Drama Theater in Mariupol, which was said to be the “largest shelter in the city” for civilians.

Fox News National Correspondent Bryan Llenas broke the news on America Reports.

“Conflicting reports, most are coming from politicians on the ground. I’m going to read something from Pavlo Kyrylenko, he’s the head of the Donetsk regional… region there that says there are several hundred people at least that were inside the Drama Theater when the Russians hit it via airstrike,” Llenas reported, as Fox played new video of the bombed-out theater on the screen.

Llenas continued, noting the deputy mayor of Mariupol estimated between 1,000 and 1,200 “people were inside” the theater at the time of the bombing. Mariupol, a city of over 430,000 people, has been under siege for weeks and is the scene of a quickly unfolding humanitarian disaster as hundreds of thousands remained trapped without basic services.

“According to a Telegram conversation between Mariupol city council members, ‘a plane dropped a bomb and a building where hundreds of peaceful Mariupol residents were hiding,’” he continued.

“‘It is still impossible to estimate the scale of this horrific and inhumane act,’ that from a Telegram conversation, according to the New York Post,” Llenas continued.

“They are having a tough time right now to make their way through that rubble and trying to find how many victims are in there right now. You are hearing the estimates from several hundred to perhaps up to 1,200 people that were inside at the time of this bombing,” he added.

“It’s absolutely horrific. We are also hearing from the regional head of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, he says that the Neptune Pool, a sports arena was also — it houses an Olympic size pool in the middle of the city was also bombed,” the report added.

“He is saying in his post on Facebook that among those who were hit were pregnant women and women with children. He says ‘This is pure terrorism,’” reported Llenas, who added:

We don’t know — we have not seen any video coming from the Neptune Pool Center, but this was a large sports center and kind of a spa area that was also nearby this drama theater. This drama theater was reconstructed in 1960, and it was from what we understand according to the deputy mayor of Mariupol, this theater was the largest shelter in the city.

Watch the full clip above, via Fox News