Ukraine's Foreign Ministry expects explanations from Beijing for "Katyusha" on Mariupol drama theater ruins

The comment was made public by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Nikolenko.

"The performance of the song "Katyusha" by Chinese "opera singer" Wang Fan on the ruins of the drama theater in Mariupol, where the Russian army killed more than 600 innocent people, is an example of complete moral degradation," Nikolenko wrote.

He added that, according to the Foreign Ministry, a group of Chinese bloggers arrived in the temporarily occupied city.

"Their arrival is illegal. It grossly violates the legislation of Ukraine that regulates the crossing of the state border by foreigners. Ukraine respects the territorial integrity of China and expects the Chinese side to explain the purpose of the Chinese citizens' stay in Mariupol, as well as the way they got to the temporarily occupied Ukrainian city," the spokesman added.

He emphasized that the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine is initiating a ban on entry to Ukraine for all these Chinese "touring artists."

The day before, the head of the Russian occupation administration, Denis Pushilin, posted a video on his Telegram where Chinese "opera diva" Wang Fan sang the song "Katyusha" on the ruins of the Mariupol Drama Theater.

An Asian girl climbed onto the balcony of the theater and sang the Russian song "Katyusha" from there. Pushilin called this girl an "opera singer" Wang Fan. No public information could be found about this singer.

Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, responded to this.

"I hope that the spirit of the more than 600 Mariupol residents killed by Russians liked the song so much that they will haunt her with nightmares for the rest of their lives. And I also hope that we will see the reaction of our border guards and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to this lady's illegal border crossing," he wrote.

• On March 16, 2022, Russia dropped a powerful bomb on the Mariupol Drama Theater, with 1000 people in the bomb shelter.

• On March 23, 2022,  in Mariupol, Russian invaders were destroying evidence of the killing of civilians in a shelter under the Drama Theater.

• On May 20, 2022, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol said that the Russians had completed the rubble removal of the Mariupol Drama Theater, and it was now impossible to determine the number of dead.

• On June 30, 2022, the international organization Amnesty International, which investigated the destruction of the Mariupol Drama Theater, concluded that the occupiers deliberately dropped a bomb on the theater, knowing that hundreds of civilians were hiding there.