In the besieged southern city of Mariupol, a Russian airstrike destroyed a theater where hundreds of people were sheltering, burying many of them in the rubble, Ukrainian officials said. They said the number of casualties in the Wednesday attack was unclear as the entrance was blocked by debris.
The strike came as Ukrainian President
Putin meanwhile warned against attempts by the West and his Russian opponents to bring about the “destruction of
He said Russians “will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and will simply spit them out like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths.”
The fighting has led more than 3 million people to flee
Here are some key things to know about the conflict:
WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE GROUND?
Ukrainian Foreign Minister
A fire broke out in an apartment building in the capital,
Fighting continued in
Ten people were killed Wednesday while standing in line for bread in the northern city of Chernihiv, the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office said.
Russian forces meanwhile freed the mayor Melitopol in exchange for nine captured conscripts, a Ukrainian official said Wednesday. Residents of the Russian-held Ukrainian city had demanded the release of Mayor
WHAT HAS THE AP DIRECTLY WITNESSED OR CONFIRMED?
In Mariupol, workers afraid for their own lives braved relentless shelling to dump the bodies of children in a mass grave. Local officials have tallied 2,500 deaths in the siege, but many bodies crushed in the rubble can't be counted because of the assault.
Bodies lie out in the street. Workers tell families to leave their dead outside because it’s too dangerous to hold funerals.
In Kharkiv, doctors are struggling to treat COVID-19 patients as the bombs fall outside. Several times a day, air raid sirens wail at a local hospital, sending virus patients — some connected to ventilators and struggling to breathe — into bomb shelters.
“Bombing takes place from morning into night," hospital director Dr. Pavel Nartov said. “It could hit at any time.”
WHAT DETAILS HAVE EMERGED FROM NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN
Zelenskyy’s adviser
Another official in Zelenskyy’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said the main subject under discussion was whether Russian troops would remain in separatist regions in eastern
Just before the war,
HOW IS THE WORLD RESPONDING TO THE WAR?
Six Western nations have called for a
The mission said the meeting was requested by six
Zelenskyy acknowledged in his speech to the
“We need you right now,” Zelenskyy said in remarks livestreamed to the
Biden announced that the
Biden also plans to travel to
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war between
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