Ukraine claimed Thursday that Russia had destroyed a theater harboring more than 1,000 people in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, with the toll as yet unknown.

Officials posted images that appeared to show the once gleaming whitewashed three-story theater hollowed out and ablaze, with bricks and scaffolding piled high.

"The invaders

Prices in Russia have risen faster over the last two weeks than the government hoped they would during the entire year, official statistics published Wednesday showed.

Inflation came in at 2.1% for the seven days between March 5-11, the Rosstat statistics agency said. That was the second-highest weekly figure in more than two decades — down s

Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor on Wednesday blocked access to the BBC's main news website, with Moscow's Foreign Ministry warning of more retaliatory measures against the media. 

"I think this is only the beginning of retaliatory measures to the information war unleashed by the West against Russia," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised financial help to ordinary Russians and the country's businesses Wednesday, calling on the nation to come together to overcome the West's "economic blitzkrieg." 

Putin made an impassioned defense of his military actions in Ukraine, saying his tactics were "completely justified" and that he had no other