A Russian airstrike devastated a maternity hospital Wednesday in the besieged port city of Mariupol and injured at least 17 people, Ukrainian officials said, amid growing warnings from the West that Moscow's invasion is about to take a more brutal and indiscriminate turn.
"There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenceless," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be held "To account for his terrible crimes."
Authorities announced new cease-fires Wednesday morning to allow thousands of civilians to escape from bombarded towns around Kyiv as well as the southern cities of Mariupol, Enerhodar and Volnovakha, Izyum in the east and Sumy in the northeast.
City workers dug a trench some 25 meters long at one of the city's old cemeteries and made the sign of the cross as they pushed bodies wrapped in carpets or bags over the edge.
The crisis is likely to get worse as Moscow's forces step up their bombardment of cities in response to what appears to be stronger Ukrainian resistance and heavier Russian losses than anticipated.
The cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol were being heavily shelled and remained encircled by Russian forces.
In the south, Russians in civilian clothes are advancing on the city of Mykolaiv, a Black Sea shipbuilding centre of a half-million people, it said.
The situation is even worse in Mariupol, a strategic city of 430,000 people on the Sea of Azov that has been encircled by Russian forces for the past week.
