The Russians have completed the exterior repairs of the Mariupol Drama Theatre, which they themselves destroyed with a missile. They claim the facade is now 100% restored and interior finishing works are ongoing. Russian forces struck the theatre on 16 March 2022, while civilians were sheltering inside.

Source: Mariupol City Council

Details: The occupation authorities plan to stage the first performance in the restored building by the end of the year.

Mariupol City Council said that “behind all this imitation of ‘restoration’ lie the atrocities of the Russian occupiers, who dropped bombs on the theatre on 16 March 2022. At that time, hundreds of Mariupol residents, many of them children, were sheltering inside. Many of them did not survive.”

From the beginning of the full-scale invasion on 24 February until its destruction, the Mariupol theatre had served as a refuge for civilians, a centre for distributing food and water, a place to obtain information about evacuation routes and a gathering point for evacuation. From 24 February to 4 March, about a hundred people – mostly current and former theatre employees, their families, and people fleeing violence in early 2022 – used it as a shelter.