ONE YEAR AGO THE MARIOUPOL THEATER WAS BOMBED
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared a video on Twitter recalling the bombing of the Mariupol Theater exactly a year ago. This strike on the theater of the besieged city, where hundreds of people had taken refuge, caused a slaughter. Around 300 people died, according to City Hall, a report revised downwards by Amnesty International in June, which said “at least a dozen people died in the attack and are likely many more” and “many others were seriously injured”. The association denounced a Russian “war crime”.
“A year ago, Russia deliberately dropped a bomb on the Mariupol Drama Theater. Right next to it was the inscription ‘Children’ that you couldn’t miss,” the leader accused. “Hundreds of people hid there. We are working to hold the terrorist state accountable for its actions,” he said.
The battle, which took place in this major port on the Sea of Azov, which had a pre-war population of about 400,000, remains the bloodiest of the war to date in terms of civilian casualties. A Ukrainian government official estimated in June that at least 22,000 civilians had died in Mariupol. According to the UN, 90% of the city was destroyed.