A study by the US news agency AP (Associated Press) revealed that approximately 600 people lost their lives in the attack by Russia on the Mariupol theater in Ukraine, which was used as a shelter for civilians.
Bombing of the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theater, the largest air raid shelter in the cityIt took place on March 16 and stands out The deadliest known attack on civilians to date in the 73-day conflict.
Based on survivor testimonies, first responders, and analysis of photographs and documents, the AP investigation estimated that at least 600 people were killed, including children, inside and outside the building. The agency says the methodology used has been reviewed by referees.
Satellite photos showed the word ‘boy’ written in very large Russian letters on the front and back of the venue. Russia denies attacking the site and says it did not target civilians, but attacks on multiple residential buildings and other non-military facilities have been recorded across the country.
Image: via Maxar Technologies/Reuters
oksana Syomin, one of the survivors of the theater attack, told the agency he had to step on the corpses of the dead to escape the building.
“All the people are still under the rubble because the rubble is still there – no one has dug it,” he said. simomina, crying in memory. “This is a big mass grave.”
The investigation also refutes Russian claims that the theater was destroyed by Ukrainian forces or that it serves as a Ukrainian military base. None of the witnesses saw Ukrainian soldiers working inside the building.
James Gow, professor of international security at King’s College London, told the AP that documenting what happened in the theater was critical to establishing a pattern of crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
“This strong witness testimony will be important in proving that[Russia’s illegal]behavior was widespread or systematic,” said Gow, who also served as an expert witness at the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
The city of Mariupol is seen as an important part of Moscow’s offensive, as it will allow the creation of a land corridor between the pro-Russian separatist areas in the east and the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Withdrawal of civilians
Another 50 people, including women, children and the elderly, left the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol on Saturday, Interfax reported, citing information from the territorial defense headquarters of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
A total of 500 people were evacuated from the area, which is considered the last point of the Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol. The area is undergoing a period of ceasefire to ensure the safe exit of civilians from Azovstal.
However, the withdrawal operation has already ended after complaints from the Ukrainian authorities that the ceasefire was violated.
“We are evacuating as many people as possible,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video conference hosted by London-based think tank Chatham House on Friday. Said. “Mariupol will never fall (…) It was destroyed, nothing remained, everything was destroyed,” he added.
Oleksii Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, denounced that Russia was “trying to liquidate Azovstal’s supporters and trying to do this before May 9 as a gift to Vladimir Putin.”
Every year on this day, Russia celebrates its 1945 victory over Nazi Germany with a massive military parade on Moscow’s Red Square.
source: Noticias
