A mosque in Ukraine’s Mariupol – which was sheltering 80 civilians – has been bombed by Russian forces, Ukrainian officials said Saturday. The war-torn eastern European country’s foreign ministry tweeted ‘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 tweet said.
Earlier today a spokesperson for the Ukrainian embassy in Turkey, citing information from the Mariupol mayor, said 86 Turkish nationals, including 34 children, were among those who had sought refuge in the mosque to escape Russian attacks on the besieged port city.
“There are really big communication problems in Mariupol and there’s no opportunity to reach them,” news agency quoted her as saying at the time.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been trapped in Mariupol for over a week with no food, water or heat and amid freezing temperatures.
Efforts to establish a cease-fire to let them leave have repeatedly broken down.
Turkish officials did not respond to requests for comment. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday that Turkey has evacuated nearly 14,000 of its citizens from Ukraine.