American killed in Ukraine as bombings continue

Minnesotan James Whitney Hill, 68, was confirmed among the victims of heavy Russian shelling in Chernihiv on Thursday. Ukrainian media reported Thursday that more than 50 people were delivered to morgues in the city in the previous 24 hours, including a husband, a wife, and their 3-year-old twins. Nearly two dozen people were killed when artillery fire demolished a school and a community center near Kharkiv. More strikes in the city destroyed a large market and set off dozens of fires that spread to nearby homes. In the southeast coastal city of Mariupol, bombings destroyed a pool complex that was sheltering women and children. And on Friday, strikes hit a military aircraft repair facility on the outskirts of Lviv, a western city near the Polish border where many refugees have taken shelter.

What about the theater in Mariupol? Rescue crews are still digging through the rubble of the theater that was bombed Wednesday. Satellite imagery from Maxar Tech showed people had spelled out “Children” in Russian on the pavement to alert planes that the site was a shelter. Hundreds of civilians were hiding inside, but with communications  disrupted across the country, the number of survivors or potential casualties still remained unclear Friday. Russia’s military denied that it bombed anywhere in Mariupol on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told German lawmakers at least 108 children have died in the overall conflict. The European commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management said 1 million Ukrainians have fled the country each week, bringing the total to over 3 million so far.

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