Ukraine: Clouds of smoke rise from Lviv following explosions
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A new satellite image revealed that the now-destroyed theatre in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol had the word ‘children’ written in Russian (дети) scrawled on the ground in front of and behind the building. The Drama Theater of Mariupol was the site of the horrific bombing by Russian forces invading Ukraine on Wednesday. According to Ukrainian officials, over 1,000 people were inside the building when it was razed to the ground.
After the bombing, the central part of the building collapsed and debris blocked the entrance to the bomb shelter, potentially trapping hundreds of people inside.
Officials said it is impossible to know how many people were killed and injured in the attack because constant Russian shelling means that rescuers cannot reach those in the rubble.
In a statement, the city council said: “It’s impossible to estimate the scale of this horrific and inhumane act as the residential areas are still under shelling.
“It appears that the main part of the Drama Theatre has been destroyed and that the debris has blocked the entrance to the bomb shelter underneath.”
Russian forces have laid siege to Mariupol for weeks, with local reports stating that the residents have been in dire straits, lacking food, water, heat and electricity
Other satellite images shared by Maxar reveal the devastation in the Ukrainian cities of Sumy, Chernihiv and Kharkiv, along with the destruction of several Russian helicopters at an airfield in Kherson.
Meanwhile, Maxar has also captured images that show rocket launchers and self-propelled artillery outside of Chernihiv, and other equipment, ground forces and helicopters have been spotted in southern Belarus.
In an effort to slow down the Russian invasion, Joe Biden handed Ukrainian troops an extra lifeline with the provision of its”kamikaze” drones, which are able to target enemy tanks and artillery positions from as far as 25 miles away.
The US President has pledged to send 100 of the “Switchblade devices, which Mr Biden claims will give the Ukrainian forces “unprecedented assistance”.
They were designed by a defence contractor called AeroVironment and can come in two forms.
One, the Switchblade 600 weighs 23kg and can stay in the air above a target for up to 40 minutes.
The weapons can travel at speeds of up to 115 miles per hour and get launched in a similar way to a mortar.
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The drones swoop down to pierce their targets, usually an armoured tank, while getting steered by remote control.
The other is a lighter version called the Switchblade 300 which can take out soldiers in the open and can obliterate vehicles.
These lighter versions only weigh around 2.5kg but can whiz in the air at a speed of 100mph when it rockets into its targets and can hover in the skies for up to 15 minutes.
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