UPDATED: At least 816 civilians killed in Ukraine since conflict began, UN says
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GENEVA, March 18 (Reuters) – The U.N. rights office (OHCHR) said on Friday that at least 816 civilians had been killed and 1,333 wounded in Ukraine through to March 17.
Most of the casualties were from explosive weapons such as shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes, OHCHR said.
The real toll is thought to be considerably higher since OHCHR, which has a large monitoring team in the country, has not yet been able to verify casualty reports from badly-hit cities like Mariupol.
Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova on Friday said 130 people had been rescued so far from the rubble of a theatre hit by an air strike on Wednesday in the besieged eastern city of Mariupol.
In a televised address, Denisova said rescue work was ongoing at the site, where many people were sheltering underground before the building was hit, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has thanked Italy for the offer to rebuild the theatre in Mariupol.
Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said on Thursday after a cabinet meeting that the Italian government is ready to rebuild a theatre in the besieged Ukrainian city Mariupol which was devastated by a bomb attack.
A handout photo made available by the Donetsk Regional Civil-Military Administration Council shows Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama destroyed by an airstrike in Mariupol, Ukraine, 16 March 2022 (issued on 17 March 2022). Russians launched an air strike on the Drama Theater and the Neptune swimming pool in Mariupol, a press release by the Donetsk Regional State Administration states. Several hundred Mariupol residents were hiding in the Drama Theater and their fate remains unknown as the entrance to the bomb shelter is blocked by debris, the press statement reads further. EPA-EFE/Donetsk Regional Civil-Military
“The cabinet … has approved my proposal to offer Ukraine the resources and means to rebuild it as soon as possible. Theatres of all countries belong to the whole (of) humanity,” Franceschini wrote on Twitter.
L’Italia pronta a ricostruire il Teatro di #Mariupol. Approvata dal Consiglio dei Ministri la mia proposta di offrire all’#Ucraina mezzi e risorse per riedificarlo appena sarà possibile. I teatri di ogni paese appartengono a tutta l’umanita. #WorldHeritagepic.twitter.com/TS4MyMkHO7
Ukraine has said the theatre was hit by a Russian air strike on Wednesday while people sheltered there from bombardments. Russia denied striking the theatre. But its forces have blasted cities and killed many civilians in its assault on Ukraine, now entering its fourth week.
"The theatre in Mariupol was not bombed by Russia".
Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya, denies the Kremlin's involvement in destroying a theatre in Mariupol.
