Russian forces have shelled a mosque in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where more than 80 adults and children have taken refuge, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry said in a tweet that Turkish citizens were among those who were seeking refuge in the mosque when it was bombarded.
“The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana (Hurrem Sultan) in Mariupol was shelled by Russian invaders. More than 80 adults and children are hiding there from the shelling, including citizens of Turkey,” the ministry wrote on its Twitter account.
There was no immediate word of casualties from the shelling of Mariupol’s elegant, city-center mosque.
Mariupol has been under siege and bombardment for more than two weeks and is encircled by Russian troops. The encircled city of 446,000 people has endured some of Ukraine’s worst misery since Russia invaded, with unceasing barrages thwarting repeated attempts to bring in food, water, and medicine, evacuate trapped civilians, and even bury the dead.
Meanwhile, French and German leaders spoke on Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a failed attempt to reach a ceasefire. According to the Kremlin, Putin laid out terms for ending the war, including Ukraine’s demilitarization and its ceding of territory, among other demands.
Ukraine’s military said that Russian forces captured Mariupol’s eastern outskirts, tightening the armed squeeze on the strategic port. Taking Mariupol and other ports on the Azov Sea could allow Russia to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.
The ministry said in a tweet that Turkish citizens were among those who were seeking refuge in the mosque when it was bombarded.
“The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana (Hurrem Sultan) in Mariupol was shelled by Russian invaders. More than 80 adults and children are hiding there from the shelling, including citizens of Turkey,” the ministry wrote on its Twitter account.
There was no immediate word of casualties from the shelling of Mariupol’s elegant, city-center mosque.
Mariupol has been under siege and bombardment for more than two weeks and is encircled by Russian troops. The encircled city of 446,000 people has endured some of Ukraine’s worst misery since Russia invaded, with unceasing barrages thwarting repeated attempts to bring in food, water, and medicine, evacuate trapped civilians, and even bury the dead.
Meanwhile, French and German leaders spoke on Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a failed attempt to reach a ceasefire. According to the Kremlin, Putin laid out terms for ending the war, including Ukraine’s demilitarization and its ceding of territory, among other demands.
Ukraine’s military said that Russian forces captured Mariupol’s eastern outskirts, tightening the armed squeeze on the strategic port. Taking Mariupol and other ports on the Azov Sea could allow Russia to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.
