Mariupol cites witnesses suggesting 300 may have been killed in theatre bombing

Local officials, citing witness accounts, said as many as 300 people may have been killed in the bombing of a theatre in the besieged city of Mariupol on March 16.

The city council made clear it was still not possible to determine the exact death toll after the incident, in which it said a powerful Russian airstrike hit the Drama Theatre where hundreds of people had been sheltering in the encircled city.

The Ukrainian government has previously said that it was impossible to tell how many were killed because Mariupol is in chaos and under almost constant bombardment from besieging Russian forces.

Russia has denied bombing the theatre. The Kremlin says Russian forces have not targeted civilians after invading Ukraine on February 24.

"From witnesses comes information that about 300 people died in the Mariupol Drama Theatre as a result of the bombing by a Russian plane," Mariupol city council said in a statement on Friday.

Read | US declares sanctions against 300 members of Russia's State Duma

"Up until the very last moment, one does not want to believe this horror. But the words of those who were inside the building at the time of this terrorist act says the opposite."

Ukrainian officials have said that about 130 people were rescued from the rubble and that the theatre basement, where local officials said many people were sheltering at the time of the bombardment, had withstood the attack.