Shelter bombed in Ukraine city; war seen entering new phase

Ukrainian authorities said Sunday that Russia’s military bombed an art school sheltering some 400 people in the port city of Mariupol, where heavy street fighting is underway weeks into a devastating Russian siege.

The fall of Mariupol would allow Russian forces across southern and eastern Ukraine to link up. But Western military analysts say that even if the surrounded city is taken, the troops battling for control there a block at a time may be too depleted to help secure Russian breakthroughs on other fronts.

Three weeks into the invasion, Western governments and analysts see the conflict shifting to a war of attrition, with bogged down Russian forces launching long-range missiles at cities and military bases as Ukrainian forces carry out hit-and-run attacks and seek to sever their supply lines.

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS HELPING INJURED PATIENTS IN UKRAINE

The strike on the art school was the second time in less than a week that local officials reported an attack on a public building where Mariupol residents had taken shelter. A bomb hit a theater where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering on Wednesday.

There was no immediate word on casualties from the reported strike on the school, which The Associated Press could not independently verify. Ukrainian officials have not given an update on the search of the theater since Friday, when they said at least 130 people had been rescued and another 1,300 were trapped by rubble.

City officials and aid groups have described dire conditions in Mariupol, where food, water and electricity have run low and the fighting has prevented humanitarian convoys from reaching the city. The Russian siege also severed communication lines in Mariupol, making it difficult to verify reports from the city.