“Until the last moment, we want to believe that everyone managed to escape,” the City Council wrote on its Telegram channel about the building.

Russian forces struck the theater even though the word “children” was written in large white letters on the ground at either end of the building.

“There cannot and never will be an explanation for this inhuman cruelty,” the Council wrote. “As there never will be forgiveness for those who brought devastation, pain and suffering to our home.”