'Dancing on bones': Russia reopens Mariupol Theater it destroyed, killing 600 sheltering civilians

The Insight News Media published the investigation.

The December 28 reopening featured a performance of the Russian fairy tale The Scarlet Flower and a concert attended by sanctioned officials, including Denis Pushilin, leader of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic who faces treason charges in Ukraine, and St. Petersburg mayor Alexander Beglov, under U.S. sanctions since 2022. Russian actor Vladimir Mashkov, sentenced in absentia to 10 years for crimes against Ukraine's territorial integrity, also attended.

The celebration comes nearly four years after Russian forces dropped an aerial bomb on the theater on March 16, 2022, during the siege of Mariupol. At the time, the building served as the city's largest civilian shelter, housing hundreds of families with children and elderly residents. The word 'CHILDREN' had been painted in large white letters outside the building, visible from the air in satellite imagery, in hopes of deterring attack.

According to investigations by Ukrainian authorities and international journalists, approximately 600 people died in the bombing. The Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office reports 600 deaths and 400 injuries, though the exact toll remains impossible to verify due to Russia's occupation of the city and destruction of evidence.

Multiple international investigations have documented the attack as a likely war crime. Amnesty International concluded that Russian forces carried out a deliberate airstrike on a civilian building, noting no evidence of military use and that the 'CHILDREN' sign was clearly visible from the air. Human Rights Watch confirmed hundreds of civilians were inside and stated the attack constituted a gross violation of international humanitarian law.

An Associated Press investigation based on 23 survivor testimonies, floor plans, and expert analysis found that at least 100 people at a field kitchen outside the theater were killed, with none surviving. Witnesses reported the building's rooms and hallways were densely packed, with roughly one person per three square meters. Survivors estimated around 1,000 people were inside when the bomb struck, with only about 200 managing to escape.

The investigation refuted Russian claims that Ukrainian forces destroyed the theater or used it as a military base. Not one witness saw Ukrainian soldiers inside the building, and all confirmed the destruction came from a Russian airstrike aimed at what everyone knew was the city's largest civilian shelter.

After taking control of Mariupol, Russian authorities began "restoring" the theater in July 2023, filling the basement with concrete. The Mariupol City Council, operating in exile, said this effectively destroyed potential evidence and described the reopening as "dancing on bones."

"The new building only imitates the destroyed theatre," the council stated, noting that the facade's original white Crimean stone was replaced with painted brick and sculptural elements were crudely recreated. "The so-called restoration of the theatre is an attempt to hide the traces of a war crime."

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry issued a sharp response to the reopening festivities. "In March 2022, Russia dropped an aerial bomb on the Mariupol Drama Theatre, where hundreds of people were sheltering – children among them. It deliberately turned this place into a mass grave, committing a blatant war crime," the ministry stated. "Russia is hosting festive events to mark the so-called 'reopening' of the theatre, at the very site where Mariupol's civilians were killed, accompanied by dances, concerts, and celebrations. This is deliberate terror and it is a deliberate attempt to evade responsibility."

Former theater actors have condemned the reopening. Mariupol photographer Evgeny Sosnovsky, now in Kyiv, called it pure cynicism. "There should be a memorial in that place to commemorate the residents of Mariupol who died during the Russian occupation of the city, not a place for entertainment," he said.

Former actress Vira Lebedynska, now in western Ukraine, said she cannot imagine performances at the site. "Fun, songs and dancing on top of all those bones? I have a feeling that the souls of the people who died there won't let them perform well there," Lebedynska said. She now performs in Mariupol Drama, a play documenting the siege that has toured across Europe. "My mission was to tell the world what happened there in the theatre," she explained.

The Mariupol Drama Theater, which opened in its classic form in 1960, survived Nazi occupation during World War II. For generations of residents, it served as a cultural center and gathering place. That the theater survived the 20th century's devastation but was deliberately destroyed in the 21st makes its loss particularly painful for Mariupol residents.

The reopening fits into what Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation identifies as a broader Russian propaganda strategy to create an illusion of normalcy under occupation. While select buildings are showcased for Western audiences, most of Russian-occupied Mariupol remains in ruins, with residents reporting lack of housing compensation, limited basic services, and constant pressure from occupation authorities.