Survivors leaving basement of Mariupol theatre after airstrike, say officials

Survivors have emerged from the basement of a theatre in the devastated city of Mariupol that was hit by a Russian airstrike despite being a designated shelter for hundreds of civilians including children and older people, officials have said.

As 21 people were reported dead in a strike on a school and community centre near Kharkiv, and 53 bodies arrived at morgues in Chernihiv, both in the north, rescuers cleared rubble from the basement of the Drama Theatre in the southern port city.

Nearly a day after the attack, there were no reports of deaths and the number of injured remained unconfirmed, but with intense street fighting cutting off communications in much of the city there were also conflicting reports about how many survivors had emerged from the basement shelter, which appeared to have held firm.

Local officials say more than 2,300 residents of Mariupol have died under a rain of missile strikes and shelling. The Black Sea port has been under attack for almost all of the three-week war, leaving people struggling for food, water, heat and medicine.