Russian strike killed 300 in Mariupol theater, Ukraine says

Ukrainian authorities say about 300 people were killed in the Russian airstrike last week that blasted open a Mariupol theater

KYIV, Ukraine -- A Russian airstrike last week that blasted open a theater being used as a shelter in the suffering city of Mariupol killed about 300 people, Ukrainian authorities said, marking what could be the war’s deadliest known attack on civilians yet.

The death toll announced Friday fueled allegations that Moscow is committing war crimes by killing civilians, whether deliberately or with indiscriminate fire.

Russia, meanwhile, seemed to signal an important shift in its war objectives with an announcement that it plans to focus its forces on eastern Ukraine. U.S. officials said Russian troops appeared to have halted for now their ground offensive aimed at capturing the capital, Kyiv, and were concentrating more on gaining control of the Donbas region in the country’s southeast.

However, British defense officials reported Saturday that the Russian military continues to besiege a number of other major Ukrainian cities, including Kharkiv and Chernihiv in the north.