Mariupol theatre attack killed 300 civilians, say Ukrainian authorities

It is estimated that around 300 civilians were killed in Russia’s 16 March bombing of a theatre in Mariupol, Southern Ukraine.

City officials have today released the final fatality figures of the bombing of the venue which was sheltering over 1,000 people, which they say was “cynically destroyed by the messengers of the ‘Russian world’”.

“Unfortunately, we start this day with bad news. From eyewitnesses, information appears that about 300 people died in the Drama Theatre of Mariupol as a result of a bombardment by a Russian aircraft,” a city council spokesperson explained this morning.

“I do not want to believe in this horror…I want to believe that everyone managed to escape. But the words of those who were inside the building at the time of this terrorist act say otherwise.

“Now there is no more Drama. In its place, a new point of pain for Mariupol residents appeared, ruins that became the last refuge for hundreds of innocent people.”

The Kremlin has denied attacking the theatre.

While records of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre first began in 1847, its modern building was constructed in 1960. The building is now mostly destroyed.