AP: 600 dead in 16 March Mariupol theatre airstrike, twice as much as previously estimated

About 600 people were killed by a Russian airstrike of Mariupol’s theatre on 16 March, according to an investigation by The Associated Press. That’s almost double the death toll cited earlier by the city’s authorities.

A 3D model of the airstrike was created after interviewing the 23 survivors and numerous rescuers and examining building layouts, photos and videos, as well as analysing experts’ opinions.

“The rooms and hallways inside the building were packed, with about one person for every 3 square metres of free space. All the witnesses said at least 100 people were at a field kitchen just outside, and none survived. Many survivors estimated around 1,000 people were inside at the time of the airstrike, but the most anyone saw escape, including rescuers, was around 200.” reads the investigation. 

The AP investigation also refutes Russian claims that the theatre was demolished by Ukrainian forces or served as a Ukrainian military base. None of the witnesses saw Ukrainian soldiers operating inside the building. And not one person doubted that the theater was destroyed in a Russian air attack aimed with precision at a civilian target everyone knew was the city’s largest bomb shelter, with children in it. It is the single deadliest known attack against civilians to date in the Ukraine War, says the AP report.

Mariupol’s Drama Theatre was hit by a Russian airstrike on 16 March, the local authorities stated that hundreds of civilians had been hiding inside. The central part of the building was completely destroyed and blocked the exits from the bomb shelter in the theatre’s basement.

The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that members of the Azov regiment had been hiding inside the building. “The Russian air forces, however, did not execute any air strike in Mariupol on 16 March,” they said.