Shocking moment 'Russian tank shoots and kills elderly man in street'

Shocking moment ‘Russian tank shoots and kills an elderly man walking down a street’ in besieged Ukrainian city

• Video purports to show a civilian, believed to be an elderly man, walking down an empty street in Mariupol before a Russian tank opened fire
• Footage, which has not been verified, firstly shows the Russian tank positioned among what appears to be the remains of a destroyed civilian building
• Video appears to show man walking down street before being killed by tank

This is the shocking moment a Russian tank appears to shoot and kill an elderly Ukrainian man walking down a street in the besieged port city of Mariupol.

Video purports to show a civilian walking along down an empty street in the city, before a Russian military vehicle opened fire and killed the man.

The footage, which has not been independently verified, firstly shows a Russian tank positioned among what appears to be the remains of a destroyed civilian building.

The video then pans wider and shows the civilian, believed to be an elderly man, calmly walking on the opposite side of the street – without making any attempt to hide or show any aggression.

The Russian tank then opens fire, allegedly killing the civilian instantly as the shell hits the building right behind him, in an explosion of flame and smoke.

The footage, which has not been independently verified, firstly shows a Russian tank (circled) positioned among what appears to be the remains of a destroyed civilian building

The video then pans wider and shows the civilian (circled), believed to be an elderly man, calmly walking on the opposite side of the street – without making any attempt to hide or show any aggression

The Russian tank then opens fire, allegedly killing the civilian instantly as the shell hits the building right behind him, in an explosion of flame and smoke

Ukraine’s Azov Battalion unit, which released the footage, said: ‘Cruel footage of the murder of a resident of Mariupol by Russian tankers.

‘The elderly man drew attention to himself so that he would not be shot, and Putin’s villain shot at a defenceless civilian man. This is what the ‘Russian world looks like’.’

Mariupol has been one of the hardest-hit cities in Ukraine, with the city under a near constant barrage of Russian bombs.  

Video purports to show a civilian (centre right) walking along down an empty street in the city, whilst a Russian tank is positioned nearby (top left of image)

Video purports to show the Russian military vehicle opening fire and killing the man

A black plume of smoke is seen rising up into the air after the explosion

Russian forces bombed a theatre in the city where hundreds of civilians, including children, were sheltering on Wednesday, the city council said.

Officials said it is impossible to know how many people were killed or injured in the attack on the Mariupol Drama Theatre because the shelling of residential areas continues in the city, meaning rescuers can’t reach those in the rubble. 

After the Russian bombing, the central part of the theatre collapsed and debris blocked the entrance to the bomb shelter located inside the building, the city council said.

Russian rocket attacks also targeted a convoy of people fleeing Mariupol, killing civilians, including children, after earlier strikes targeted a nearby hub for displaced people. It is not yet known how many were killed in the shelling. 

Russian forces bombed a theatre where hundreds of civilians, including children, were sheltering in the encircled port city of Mariupol on Wednesday, the city council said

Officials said it is impossible to know how many people were killed or injured in the attack on the Mariupol Drama Theatre (pictured before the attack) because the shelling of residential areas continues in the city, meaning rescuers can’t reach those in the rubble

The Ukrainian military said the civilians had been travelling from Mariupol to the city of Zaporizhzhia through a humanitarian corridor – supposedly safe passages for citizens to flee – when they were fired on by Russian troops. 

An image from the scene of the shelling showed a burnt out car, with a damaged door blown open.   

Over 28,800 civilians have managed to escape Mariupol through several humanitarian corridors, but thousands are still stuck in the city, Ukrainian officials said. 

The evacuation of civilians in Mariupol came even as Russian forces have renewed their shelling on the coastal city, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have struggled to stay alive without heat, food and clean water.   

Russian rocket attacks also targeted a convoy of people fleeing Mariupol, killing civilians, including children, after earlier strikes targeted a nearby hub for displaced people. Pictured: A car from a convoy of people fleeing from Mariupol, destroyed by shelling, is seen on a road in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Wednesday 

Russian forces in Mariupol have rounded up 400 people from houses neighbouring the city’s hospital number two, along with 100 doctors and patients who were already inside, and are refusing to let them leave, according to regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. 

Humanitarian convoys again failed to make it into Mariupol because of the Russian assault but managed to deliver aid and set up evacuation corridors from Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region. 

The head of the Red Cross, which has helped organize the evacuations, arrived in Kyiv Wednesday to push for better humanitarian aid access and protection for civilians.

Overall, more than 3 million refugees have fled Ukraine, the U.N. said – Europe’s largest refugee crisis since WWII. 

Meanwhile, the UN’s top court has ordered Russian to stop hostilities in Ukraine in a move designed to further isolate Moscow on the world stage.

Kyiv brought a case at the International Court of Justice immediately after Putin ordered his men to attack on February 24, saying his justification – that genocide was being committed in Donbass – was unfounded and in breach of international law.

Judges today ruled in Ukraine’s favour, ordering Russia to call off its forces and stop attacks by troops that it supports – referring to the Donetsk and Luhansk ‘republics’.

The court has no power to enforce the ruling and Vladimir Putin is likely to ignore it, but President Volodymyr Zelensky warned today that doing so will ‘isolate Russia even further’ from other nations.

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