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In the frigid basement of the Mariupol theatre, she stood in just her bathrobe, covered in white plaster dust shattered by the explosion. Her husband yanked her away from the table and pleaded with her to close her eyes.
Oksana Syomina, on the other hand, couldn’t help herself. She still regrets doing so. The bodies of youngsters, as well as adults, were strewn about. A little girl was motionless on the ground near the main exit.
To get out of the structure that had functioned as the primary bomb shelter for the Ukrainian city for almost a week, Syomina had to walk over the dead. The injured, as well as those looking for loved ones, screamed. Syomina, her husband, and about 30 others rushed blindly toward the sea and up the shore for over five miles (eight kilometres), the theatre in ruins behind them.
“Everyone is still under the rubble because the rubble is still there — no one dug them up,” Syomina remarked, her eyes welling up with tears. “This is a large mass grave,” says the narrator.
Among the atrocities of the war in Ukraine, the Russian bombardment of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater in Mariupol on March 16 stands out as the single worst known attack against civilians. According to an investigation by the Associated Press, the attack killed at than 600 people inside and outside the building, significantly more than originally reported. That’s nearly double the number of people who have died so far, and many survivors believe the death toll is far higher.
From the tales of 23 survivors, rescuers, and those intimately familiar with the theater’s new life as a bomb shelter, the AP investigation recreated what happened inside the theatre on that day. The Associated Press also used two sets of theatre floor plans, images and video taken inside before, during, and after that day, as well as feedback from specialists who evaluated the technique.
An precise toll is impossible to calculate because communications have been cut off, individuals are continually coming and going, and recollections have been distorted by trauma. According to a document obtained by the Associated Press, the government estimates 300 people died early on and has subsequently launched a war crimes inquiry.
Through the creation of a 3D model of the building’s floorplan, AP journalists arrived at a far greater number, which was confirmed by firsthand witnesses, the majority of whom were from within the theatre, who described in detail where people were hiding.
At least 100 individuals were gathered outside a field kitchen, according to all witnesses, and none of them survived. They also claimed that the building’s rooms and halls were jam-packed, with one person for every three square metres of available space.
Around 1,000 people were inside at the time of the airstrike, according to many survivors, but only about 200 individuals were seen escaping, including rescuers. The only way out was by the main exit or one of the side entrances; the other side and back were crushed.
The AP research also debunks Russian assertions that the theatre was demolished by Ukrainian forces or that it was used as a military base by the Ukrainians. Nobody saw Ukrainian military inside the building, according to the witnesses. And no one doubted that the theatre had been destroyed by a Russian air strike aimed with pinpoint accuracy at a civilian target that everyone knew was the city’s largest bomb shelter, which was home to children.
Documenting what happened at the theatre, according to James Gow, an international security expert at King’s College London, is essential for establishing a pattern of crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
“This powerful witness testimony will be critical in showing that (Russian illegal) behaviour was widespread or systemic,” said Gow, who also testified as an expert witness before the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Mariupol has become a symbol of Russian soldiers’ devastation and Ukrainian resistance. The destiny of the city is now in doubt, with officials estimating that 20,000 inhabitants killed as a result of the Russian siege. Many fear that the bombing of the theatre foreshadows additional war crimes that have yet to be found because Mariupol has been cut off from the outside world.
