On March 16, 2022, Russia’s air force dropped two bombs on the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theatre in Mariupol, a landmark in the town’s center. According to Ukrainian official reports, at least 600 civilians were sheltering in the basement of the building at the time. Images from the air showed “ДЕТИ” (in Russian “Children”) written in huge capital letters on the square in front of the entrance to make it clear to pilots that the theater was full of children.
Two days later, Mariupol City Council reported that nearly 130 survivors had been pulled from the basement. A week on, it reported, citing eyewitnesses, that the bombs had killed about 300 people.
A subsequent independent investigation by the Associated Press suggests the number of fatalities may have reached 600, while Amnesty International believes there may have been fewer victims, referring to “the fact that large numbers of people had left the theatre during the two days prior to the attack, and most of those who remained… were protected from the full brunt of the blast.”
On Sunday, Dec. 28, a special ceremony and a show by performers from Mariupol and the Russian city of Saint Petersburg were held in that same theater, rebuilt since the bombing, AFP reported. Russian television showed images of the gala event as well as the theatre’s rebuilt marble staircase and columns, and a 2.5 ton crystal chandelier hanging in the auditorium.
Russian forces rolled into Mariupol, a bustling Black Sea coast city, in the first months of its assault in 2022 and imposed a brutal, nearly three-month siege that resulted in thousands of deaths – 8,000 according to Human Rights Watch, and 22,000 according to the city’s exiled Ukrainian municipal council.
The city on the Sea of Azov was devastated and some 300,000 of the pre-conflict population of 540,000 fled. The UN said 90 percent of the buildings were destroyed or damaged in the siege. Russia has since sought to turn Mariupol into a new symbol of prosperity in the parts of Ukraine it controls and many East Asians from far-flung Siberia as well as Chechens and other Caucasians have flocked to the city.
“Mariupol Drama Theatre has reopened its doors to spectators” after a three year redevelopment, said Denis Pushilin, the Russia’s hand-picked leader in the occupied Donetsk region that includes the city.
The theatre’s “historic image” has been restored with its sculptured facade and “modern equipment of the highest level,” he added in comments on Telegram.
In September 2022, Russia announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – even though it does not fully control the areas.