Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko called attack a “horrifying tragedy.”
“People were hiding there. And some said they were lucky to survive, but unfortunately not all were lucky,” he said in a video message.
“The only word to describe what has happened today is genocide, genocide of our nation, our Ukrainian people. But I am confident that the day will come when our beautiful city of Mariupol will rise out of the ruins again.”
The city is a key strategic target for Moscow, potentially linking Russian forces in Crimea to the west and the Donbas to the east and cutting off Ukrainian access to the Sea of Azov.
For days Russian forces have bombarded the city – which once had about half a million residents – cutting power, food and water supplies.
Ukrainian officials branded the bombing a war crime.
“It is impossible to find words to describe the level of cynicism and cruelty, with which Russian invaders are destroying peaceful residents of a Ukrainian city by the sea,” an official statement read.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, decried Russia’s “cruelty” and ridiculed those in the West rejecting the idea of a no-fly zone for “fear of WW3” with Russia, as they sit “in a Berlin cafe.”
Russia’s defence ministry denied that its forces bombed the city and stated the building was destroyed in an explosion set off by Ukraine’s nationalist Azov battalion.
It claimed “peaceful civilians could be held hostage” at the site.
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