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Russia Reopens Mariupol Drama Theatre to Conceal One of Its Deadliest Crimes
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![Photo of Ivan Khomenko]( "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
Russian occupation authorities in Mariupol have announced the completion of “restoration work” on the city’s drama theater, which was destroyed during a Russian airstrike in March 2022.
The opening is reportedly scheduled for December, according to the Mariupol City Council on November 1.
“The place that became one of the largest sites of a Russian war crime is now being turned into a venue for Russian performances and concerts,” the Ukrainian city council said in a statement posted on Telegram.
Officials added that occupation forces intend “to stage Russian plays and, in effect, ‘sing and dance on the bones’ of the killed residents of Mariupol.”
Russian officials claimed that the reconstruction is in its final phase. The building, heavily damaged by a double airstrike in 2022, has been rebuilt by Russian contractors.
The city council noted that after occupying Mariupol, Russian authorities fenced off the theater area to prevent independent investigations and to conceal the removal of bodies.
On March 16, 2022, Russian aircraft dropped two large bombs on the Mariupol Drama Theater, where hundreds of civilians were sheltering from shelling.
The word “CHILDREN” (“ДЕТИ”) had been written in large letters outside the building. According to Associated Press, at least 600 people were killed in the attack, making it one of the deadliest incidents of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The Mariupol City Council and Ukraine’s military communications office previously reported that during Russia’s reconstruction efforts, workers poured concrete over the remains of the victims and used chlorine to mask the smell of decomposing bodies.
Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy compared Russia’s reconstruction of Mariupol to its postwar rebuilding of Grozny, saying the effort aims to conceal evidence of mass killings and destruction. In an interview with Il Foglio, he noted that as many as 20,000 people may have been killed during the siege, with thousands still missing and many buried under the rubble.
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