U-S Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he agrees with President Joe Biden that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine, adding that U-S experts are in the process of documenting and evaluating potential war crimes in Ukraine.
"Three weeks ago, Russia launched its unprovoked war on Ukraine. With every day that passes, the number of civilians, including children killed and wounded, continues to climb. Russia continues to attack civilian sites, including this week alone, a hospital, three schools, a boarding school for visually impaired kids in the Luhansk region of Ukraine."
Mr Blinken made special note of the bombing of a Mariupol theatre which was marked 'children' in letters large enough to be read from the air.
"Yesterday, Russian forces bombed a theater in Mariupol where hundreds of people had been taking shelter. The word 'children' had been written in Russian in giant white letters on the pavement outside the building so that you could know from the air that there were children inside. Russian forces also opened fire on ten civilians who were waiting in line for bread. These incidents join a long list of attacks on civilian, not military locations across Ukraine,"
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said the accusations of Russian military bombing a theatre in Mariupol are "a lie".
Around 30,000 Ukrainians have fled the besieged city of Mariupol, after weeks of being trapped by Russian forces encircling the city.
Local officials say between 80 and 90 buildings have been damaged in the city due to Russian bombardments.
Roughly 350,000 people are still believed to be trapped in Mariupol, cut off from heating, food and electricity.
