Attack on Mariupol Theater kills 300 in Ukraine

In Mariupol, where hundreds of civilians were seeking refuge from the hostilities, an aircraft bombed a theater on the day nine days ago, killing about 300 people, Ukrainian authorities said Friday.

In a statement posted on its Telegram channel, the Mariupol City Council cited eyewitnesses as source of information about the casualty count. The council also characterized the bombing on March 16 as an act of "inhuman cruelty."

A day after the incident, deputy mayor Sergei Orlov told the BBC that between 1,000 and 1,200 people were inside the building, while local member of parliament Dmytro Gurin said that "most" seemed to have made it to safety.

The U.S. company Maxar released pictures taken by satellite on March 14 showing a large mark on the ground for the Russian word for children next to the theater, probably to signal that there were children inside.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also criticized Moscow in the wake of the incident, saying in a video address that, “our hearts are broken by what Russia is doing to our people.”

Mariupol City Council said in a statement Friday that "the occupiers knew what they were doing."

25 March 2022