Last March, the bombing of the Ukrainian theater killed hundreds, kyiv then accused Moscow of having deliberately targeted civilians who had taken refuge in the building.
“The Mariupol Drama Theater no longer exists”, Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko wrote on Twitter on Friday, accompanying his message with a video in which we can see an excavator destroying a wall. This city in southern Ukraine has been occupied by the Russians since May.
For him, “this is an attempt to hide forever the evidence of the deliberate murder of Ukrainians by Russians. The aggressor country does not even try to hide its intentions to erase everything.”
The Minister refers to the bombardment of the Mariupol theater last March, at the start of the conflict, when civilians had taken refuge there. The attack had been particularly criticized because around the building the words “children” had been written in order to prevent any bombardment.
According to local authorities, around 300 people died under the rubble of this building, but other estimates put the toll even higher.
The Russians assure that the destroyed parts could not be restored
The bombing was “clearly a war crime”, Amnesty International said at the time. For the Ukrainian authorities, it is therefore obvious that the Russians are destroying this theater to erase possible evidence of their crimes.
“These ruins were a problem for the Russians and served as proof of their crime” written on Twitter a branch of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture. But “even without physical access to the scene of the tragedy, the Ukrainian and international investigation has sufficient grounds to conduct an investigation.”
The current director of the theater Igor Solonin assured for his part to Russian state media Tas that “only part of the building” was destroyed voluntarily, as it could not be restored, and that the building would be renovated by the end of 2024.
In this same article, it is also pointed out that the destruction of the theater is due to the shelling of the unit of Ukrainian fighters Azov, regularly accused by the Russians.
