Civilian targets under heavy fire as Ukraine war enters fourth week
KYIV, Ukraine — Rescuers began to pull survivors Thursday from the rubble of a nighttime airstrike on a theater where more than 1,000 people had sheltered in the besieged port city of Mariupol, as Russia’s war on Ukraine entered its fourth week with no sign of a respite and a new onslaught of attacks on civilian sites.
On Thursday, the International Rescue Committee said at least 20 people were killed and 25 injured in an attack on a school in the city of Merefa.
And in eastern Ukraine, a public pool facility where civilians had been sheltering was also hit, officials said, although it was unclear whether there had been casualties.
Speaking to journalists Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said Russian attacks on civilian targets amount to war crimes.
“After all the destruction of the past three weeks, I find it difficult to conclude that the Russians are
