An adviser to Mariupol Mayor Petro Andriushchenko reported on Telegram that Russians are relentlessly tearing down bombed-out buildings: "While Mariupol in exile thinks about cultural de-occupation, the occupants in Mariupol demolished half of the Drama Theatre. So in two days, there will not even be a physical memory of it."
Drama Theatre became the city's main bomb shelter until twin Russian airstrikes hit it on March 16. Under the guise of reconstruction for “historical value,” the Russian forces were quickly rebuilding the theatre, Andriushchenko reported in August. Russian bombing of the theatre killed an estimated 300 people who were hiding and awaiting evacuation. On June 29, Amnesty International called the attack a “clear war crime.”
To mask the ruins, Russian authorities have put up a screen etching the theatre's outline on the panelling in a ghostly reminder of its previous life.
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