Russia ‘has increased indiscriminate shelling of urban areas causing widespread destruction’, UK says

Russia tactics will cause ‘large numbers of civilian casualties’, UK defence ministry says

Ukrainian police officers patrol the bombed streets of Kharkiv. (AFP via Getty Images)

Russia has increased its “indiscriminate shelling of urban areas” as it struggles to capture major cities in eastern Ukraine, the UK ministry of defence has said.

In an intelligence update posted on social media on Sunday morning, the ministry of defence said that Russia’s tactics would result in “widespread destruction and large numbers of civilian casualties”.

They said that, as Russian forces have made “limited progress” in capturing cities in eastern Ukraine, Russia would likely use heavy firepower to try and make gains.

Russia’s own defence ministry reportedly admitted using hypersonic missiles on Saturday.

Missiles were used to target a large underground depot used to store missiles and aircraft ammunition in western Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported.

Russian forces have also shelled numerous civilian buildings in the beseiged city of Mariupol.

A satellite image on Saturday shows the aftermath of the airstrike on the Mariupol Drama theater, Ukraine (AP)

A theatre in the city, which was reportedly being used as a civilian shelter, has been bombed. Satellite images showed the Russian word for “children” emblazoned on the ground.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia’s attack on the port city would be remembered for “centuries to come”.

“To do this to a peaceful city, what the occupiers did, is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,” Mr Zelensky said in a video address.

A photo made available by the Donetsk Regional Civil-Military Administration Council shows Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama destroyed by an airstrike in Mariupol. (EPA-EFE)

Mariupol’s city council said on Sunday that an art school where 400 people had been sheltering was bombed by Russian forces.

The people inside were mainly women, children, and elderly people, the council said.

In a video filmed on a rubble-strewn street, Mariupol police officer Michail Vershnin appealed to US president Joe Biden and French president Emmanuel Macron to help.

Burning in Mariupol is photographed by satellite technology. (EPA-EFE)

“Children, elderly people are dying,” he said, “The city is destroyed and it has been wiped off the face of the earth.

“You have promised that there will be help, give us that help. Biden, Macron, you are great leaders. Be them to the end.”

People from Mariupol play with their children in the temporary accommodation center for refugees in the Rostov region, Russia. (EPA-EFE)

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