When Russian forces bombed a theater in Mariupol last week, it was unknown how many civilians were killed. Ukrainian authorities said today that about 300 civilians were killed in the strike, making it the deadliest known attack on civilians in Ukraine yet.
The theater had been a shelter for civilians, with hundreds of people taking cover inside. “Children” written in Russian had been printed in enormous white letters outside of the theater on the ground in order to make it visible to the Russian air force. They bombed it anyway.
Mariupol has been besieged for about a month now, and the city has become absolutely devastated by constant bombings and shellings. For days, the government has been unable to give a casualty count for the theater attack.
The death toll was announced on its Telegram channel today and cited eyewitnesses to the attack. It was not immediately clear yet whether emergency workers have fully finished excavating the ruined theater, or if the toll therefore could actually be higher.
Details are emerging of what happened and how many were killed, and enough details have come out to fuel allegations that Russia committed war crimes by killing civilians, whether it was deliberately targeting civilians or killing them by indiscriminate fire.
This could presume NATO to further increase military aid to Ukraine. So far, the defensive alliance has not yet supplied warplanes or established a no-fly zone over Ukraine, fearing that it will walk into a war between NATO and Russia.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the U.S. reaction to the theater bombing was “absolute shock,” particularly also that it was so obviously a civilian target. He said that the bombing showed a “brazen disregard” by Russia for the lives of civilians.
Mariupol has seen such utter devastation, with bodies being piled up and left unburied, and bombings so intense it has made obtaining information extremely difficult.
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