Russia has already declared war on the EU and NATO | View

The word “children” was etched in large white letters in Russian on the ground next to the building, in the hope that Russian jets would spare the target.

Hundreds of civilians, from the very old to the very young, had flocked to the theatre in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol seeking refuge from the invaders’ ceaseless assault. Yet still the bombs came, reducing a temple of culture to a pile of rubble.

It took nine days to tally up the dead, numbering roughly 300, according to the city council. But counting casualties has become impossible in a city where they cannot keep pace with the dead. Bodies have piled up on the streets as local residents race to dig mass graves.

Time is running out for the living, who struggle to cope with freezing temperatures and shortages of food and water, their ability to leave -- or bring desperately needed supplies in -- cut off by the cordon of Russian soldiers encircling the besieged city, who are now forcibly relocating Mariupol’s residents to Russia.

Hold these images in your head. Please do not look away. Ukrainians need the world to see what is happening in my country -- to feel it, in their very souls -- and conjure the moral courage to do what is right.

Each day brings a new horror story in the ongoing saga of the senseless slaughter of innocent lives that has unfolded since Russia invaded in late February.

The World Health Organization reports it now has verified 64 Russian attacks on Ukrainian health facilities since the war began, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without water and electricity.

Before the attack on the Mariupol theatre, Russian bombs struck a maternity hospital, killing mothers and babies.

After days of intense shelling, Russian officials