Russia accused of demolishing Mariupol theatre 'to hide war crimes'

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Russia-Ukraine war: Russia accused of demolishing Mariupol theatre ‘to hide war crimes’ – as it happened

Updated 2h ago

-snip-

4h ago
16.07 GMT

Russia accused of demolishing Mariupol theatre ‘to hide war crimes’

Russian forces have started demolishing a theatre in occupied Mariupol in southern Ukraine that was the site of a deadly airstrike believed to have killed hundreds of civilians, according to an aide to the city’s exiled Ukrainian mayor.

Petro Andryushchenko accused the occupying authorities of attempting to cover up the Russian bombing of the theatre, which was being used as an air raid shelter when it was hit on 16 March.

An investigation by Amnesty International into the Mariupol theatre strike concluded that Russian forces committed a war crime by deliberately targeting the building despite knowing hundreds of civilians were sheltering there.

Video posted on social media appears to show diggers demolishing the last remaining walls of the theatre.

Ukraine’s culture minister, Oleksandr Tkachenko, said the move was an “attempt to hide forever the evidence of the deliberate killing of Ukrainians by Russians”.

Link to tweet

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/dec/23/russia-ukraine-war-live-north-korea-denies-supplying-russias-wagner-group-with-weapons-air-raid-sirens-sound-in-mykolaiv?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-63a5d1c08f085ce9739c47e7#block-63a5d1c08f085ce9739c47e7

[Biophilic]

1. Why else would they take the time and resources to tear it down?

F’ing animals.