28 Mariupol theater
Do you think Ukrainian children should be bombed? In a theater where they were seeking shelter? 600 dead? That’s what Russia did in Mariupol.
- the bombing was staged
- Russia never attacks civilian targets
- Ukrainian Nazis did it
The bombing of the theater was part of the intended Russian genocide against the civilian population of Mariupol. 
28.1 Place of the siege
The war against Mariupol did not begin in 2022, but as early as 2014, when Russia waged a covert war. After the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donetsk and Luhansk, the city’s economic situation deteriorated drastically. The construction of the Kerch Bridge isolated Mariupol from international maritime trade.
The siege of Mariupol began with the start of the war on February 24, 2022 and ended with the capitulation on May 20, 2022. The city was completely encircled and cut off from the outside world. Due to Russian air supremacy, Mariupol was defenceless against Russian bombardment. 90% of the residential buildings were destroyed, water, electricity, energy, heat and heating systems - were systematically destroyed just one week after the start of the war, leaving the population, who had been holding out in the cellars of the apartment blocks, defenceless against the persistent winter cold.
28.2 Place of culture
Like the theater in Aachen, the theater in Mariupol is an order of civilization, culture and peace.
28.3 Place of death
Over 1,200 citizens, including many children, had taken refuge in the basement of the theater, as indicated by two large pavement signs “ДЕТИ” (children) in front of and behind the theater, which were easy to read from the air. On March 16, 2022, Russia targeted and bombed the theater, killing about 600 people, according to estimates of Associated Press (Wikipedia).
The image comes from these stories from survivors.
28.4 Place of mass graves
There have been massive human rights violations in Mariupol, including targeted attacks on civilians, blockades of humanitarian aid and the bombing of medical facilities. The worst case of destruction of a medical facility was the targeted bombing of the maternity and children’s clinic on the left bank of Mariupol on March 9, 2022 (see Chapter 97). It is estimated that 100,000 people died in Mariupol, many were buried in mass graves1.
28.5 Place of justice?
According to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, legal experts classify the events as genocide, as living conditions were deliberately created to destroy the population. These included the encirclement of the city, the starvation of the people, the targeted bombing of shelters and hospitals and the deportation of tens of thousands to Russia. See also Chapter 38
Even the often Russia-biased Amnesty International could not help but call the Russian attack on a theater filled with civilians seeking protection a clear war crime that belongs before the International Criminal Court2.
A longer essay on Mariupol in the journal Osteuropa also concludes that Russia committed genocide in Mariupol3, although the 2022 text still contains Russian narratives about alleged separatists in the Donbas, see Chapter 34.
This genocide could probably have been prevented if the international community had acted more decisively earlier.
3rd mass grave was found near Mariupol (2024-04-25). hromadske.radio. https://hromadske.radio/en/news/2022/04/25/3rd-mass-grave-was-found-near-mariupol-photos↩︎
Ukraine: Deadly Mariupol theatre strike ‘a clear war crime’ by Russian forces – new investigation. (2023, June 30). Amnesty International. Retrieved May 1, 2024, from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/06/ukraine-deadly-mariupol-theatre-strike-a-clear-war-crime-by-russian-forces-new-investigation/↩︎
Otto Luchterhand (2022-04-14). Völkermord in Mariupol. Zeitschrift Osteuropa. https://zeitschrift-osteuropa.de/blog/voelkermord-in-mariupol/↩︎