THE pilot of a Russian aircraft who ignored warning signs saying “children” and bombed a theatre full of innocents has been branded a monster by Ukraine.

       The attack in Mariupol came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky compared the assault on the city to the World War Two siege of Leningrad — where one million people died.

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       A theatre in Mariupol that had more than 1,000 women and children sheltering inside was bombed by Russia 3

       Residents have fled Mariupol en masse — where 90 per cent of all buildings are damaged or destroyed

       Mariupol is being flattened by a squadron of 25 Russian bombers flying sorties over the city every day — with 90 per cent of all buildings damaged or destroyed.

       Around 14,000 elite Russian troops surround the city, with many of the 400,000 residents — trapped for a 17th day without power and running water — drinking from puddles to survive.

       Bodies litter the streets, while others have been buried in mass graves because the ceaseless bombardment makes it impossible to hold funerals.

       More than 1,000 women and children huddled for shelter in the theatre building, which was bombed on Wednesday. Their fate is still unclear.

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       Reports from the cut-off port city suggested some survivors had emerged from the rubble.

       One woman who is said to have been in the theatre suggested just 100 people have escaped so far, while the majority were hiding under the main stage which is covered heavily with debris.

       Local officials have vowed: “We will never forgive and never forget.”

       It is now known at least 2,400 residents have died in the bombardment, but the true figure is likely to be much higher.

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       Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces have continued shelling the strategic port city and the assault is rapidly turning into this conflict’s worst horror.

       A video showed bodies — including those of babies just a few days old — wrapped in sheets and laid on the floor of corridors in the only hospital that remains open.

       Russian troops have refused to allow any humanitarian aid. President Zelensky said: “Our hearts are broken by what Russia is doing to our people — to our Mariupol.”

       Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the theatre attack was a “horrendous war crime”.

       And Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov told the European Parliament in a video address: “Big letters of ‘children’ were written so that the pilot of the plane could see and still, in spite of that, this monster has bombed the theatre.”

       It came just days after a video was posted on YouTube showing hundreds of terrified residents sheltering in the dark inside the building.

       The UK’s Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said the bombing was a “self-evident breach of international humanitarian law”.

       Mariupol’s deputy mayor Sergei Orlov said Russian troops opened fire on a convoy of cars heading out of the city this week, wounding at least five people including a child.

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       Experts say Putin has adopted devastating “siege and starve” tactics at Mariupol, like those used against Russian city Leningrad by the Nazis in World War Two.

       US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “Every Russian has lived or learned about the horrific siege. Now Russia is starving out cities like Mariupol. It’s shameful.”

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       The fate of the women and children who were in the theatre is unclear

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