Aside Mariupol theatre was destroyed to conceal Russian misdeeds

According to a representative of the city’s exiled Ukrainian mayor, Russian authorities have begun demolishing Mariupol’s destroyed theatre.

When Russian bombers destroyed the structure in March, Petro Andryushchenko accused the occupying authorities of trying to hide the killing of hundreds of people.

Recently, built a screen around the demolished theatre.

According to Mr. Andryushchenko, the Russians intended to build a new theatre “on the bones of Mariupol’s people” by demolishing the rest of the building while leaving the theater’s façade intact.

Built a screen featuring pictures of prominent Russian cultural figures around the theater’s ruins last month.

The theatre was a hub of city activity before Russia invaded Ukraine in February and occupied Mariupol.

The Bremen Town Musicians, a revival of a 1960s Soviet cult musical, has been promised to the city’s remaining residents by the Russian proxy government that controls the city and the occupied regions of the neighboring Donetsk region.

It is being stage at the Pioneers’ Palace, more than a kilometer distant, as oppose to the bombed-out theatre.

All of this is a far cry from the extravagant new year celebrations host in Mariupol last year.

The Associated Press estimated that 10,300 new graves had been dug at a Mariupol theatre cemetery using satellite images earlier this month.

In November, the BBC claimed that eyewitnesses had observed Russian authorities dig up bodies from the wreckage of demolished structures and transport them for burial. According to Ukrainian statistics, 25,000 people died in the city’s combat.

When hundreds of Ukrainian fighters eventually submitted at the city’s Azovstal steel mill in May, it had taken Russia months to lift the city’s siege.

According to a study by Amnesty International, two months earlier, at around 10:00 on March 16, Russian airplanes dropped two 500kg bombs on the city’s theatre that exploded simultaneously. The organization denounced the attack as a blatant war crime.

A big sign reading “children” had been scrawl on the Russian front of the theatre, and civilians had taken sanctuary in the structure during the siege.

The structure was occupied by about 1,200 people when the bombs went off. Ukrainian authorities put the death toll at 300, while an AP investigation put it closer to 600. The basement contained many of the bodies.