The local "authorities" began to demolish the drama theater in the occupied city of Mariupol, Donetsk region. A Russian airstrike killed 300 to 600 people there in March, according to various estimates.
This was reported on the morning of December 23 by the legal mayorʼs advisor Petro Andryushchenko.
According to him, the rear and central parts of the theater will be completely dismantled, but the front part will be left intact as "the basis of the reconstruction". Andryushchenko emphasizes that they are dismantling only those parts of the building that prove the bombing, "and not the detonation from the inside invented by propaganda."
- From the beginning of the full-scale invasion, fierce battles were fought for Mariupol. The Russians bombarded it with prohibited ammunition and carried out several air raids every day. The drama theater building became a refuge for many citizens — there was a bomb shelter in its basement. Hundreds of people were hiding there, including children and the sick, who needed special attention from doctors. It was in front of the drama theater that the famous inscription "Children" was visible from the satellite.
- On March 16, 2022, a Russian bomber dropped an aerial bomb on the drama theater building. The city council reported that approximately 300 people died in the theater, but an Associated Press investigation indicates that nearly 600 people died.
- On May 20, it became known that the occupiers had finished dismantling the ruins of the destroyed drama theater, and the found bodies were buried in a mass grave. Therefore, it is impossible to know for sure how many people died there.