Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine accuses Russia of war crimes cover-up by demolishing Mariupol theater

Ukrainian authorities have accused Russian officials in the occupied Ukrainian territory of Mariupol of trying to cover up evidence of war crimes following the demolition of a theater in the city. Ukrainian authorities have said that hundreds may have died in the theater due to an air strike.

Friday last week, video footage published by both Russian and Ukrainian news outlets showed the Mariupol theater getting demolished. The videos showed heavy equipment destroying most of the theater and leaving only the facade intact. Ukrainian officials criticized the demolition as an attempt by Russia to cover up the evidence of its war crimes, as hundreds of people may have died back on March 16.

Russian officials said the demolition of the theater was part of the efforts to rebuild the theater in order to reinforce its control of the city.

“The Mariupol Theater no longer exists,” said Ukrainian culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko in a post on Facebook. “The occupiers are removing traces of their crimes and couldn’t care less whether this is cultural heritage or whether it belongs to another culture.”

Ukrainian officials said at least 300 civilians died when Russia bombed the theater. However, the actual death toll may be higher. The Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security said the ruins of the bombed theater served as an “irritant” for Russians and were evidence of their crime.

Also on Friday, the Associated Press reported that Russian workers were destroying bombed buildings in Mariupol at a rate of at least one a day, hauling away bodies found in the debris.

According to the British defense ministry in its intelligence bulletin on Saturday, while Russia succeeded in solving its personnel shortage on the ground, they are now facing a depleting supply of munitions. The ministry noted that Moscow may have pulled back some of its long-range missile strikes on Ukraine at least once a week due to the munition shortage.

“Russia is unlikely to have increased its stockpile of artillery munitions enough to enable large-scale offensive operations,” said the ministry. “A vulnerability of Russia’s current operational design is even just sustaining defensive operations along its lengthy front line requires a significant daily expenditure of shells and rockets.”