The Russian airstrike on the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater in Mariupol on March 16 killed 600 people. Such conclusions were reached by journalists of the Associated Press (AP) news agency.
The news agency claims that the Russian bombing of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater in Mariupol on March 16 stands out as the single deadliest known attack against civilians to date. An AP investigation has found evidence that the attack was far deadlier than estimated, killing closer to 600 people inside and outside the building. That’s almost double the death toll cited so far.
The AP investigation recreated what happened inside the theater on that day from the accounts of 23 survivors, rescuers, and people intimately familiar with its new life as a bomb shelter.
The AP also reconstructed a 3D model of the building based on witness accounts, two sets of floor plans of the theater, photos, and video taken inside.
The AP investigation refutes Russian claims that the theater was demolished by Ukrainian forces or served as a Ukrainian military base. None of the witnesses saw Ukrainian soldiers operating inside the building. And not one person doubted that the theater was destroyed in a Russian air attack aimed with precision at a civilian target with children in it.
By March 15, around 1,200 people crammed into the building, sleeping in offices, corridors, balconies, and the basement. The theater became a place where anyone could get food and water supplied by the Red Cross or news about possible evacuations.
It is unknown what happened to the bodies of those killed under the rubble of the drama theater. Some witnesses suggest that the bodies were taken out by the Russians. There was information that the occupiers were forcing civilians from Mariupol to dismantle the rubble and collect the bodies.
