Ukraine families at mercy of Russian troops in a town's bombed cultural palace

RUBIZHNE, Ukraine — If your eyes focused on the stage — ignoring the chandelier that had smashed into the theater seats, or the maw where the shell had punched through the ceiling, or the muddy mix of pulverized masonry and rainwater carpeting the ground — you could almost hear the music in Rubizhne's Cultural Palace.

But that was just pretend. and brutal to this palace. There were no children racing upstairs to dance