Of Mariupol's bombed theatre, a shell is all that remains

But Reuters reporters who visited the Russian-controlled city on Saturday were able to confirm that authorities are demolishing and clearing what is left of the smashed rear portion of the building - about half of the original structure. Drone footage showed an excavator reaching high into the air to claw down chunks of masonry, which collapsed to the ground in clouds of dust.

MARIUPOL, Russian-controlled Ukraine, Dec 24 (Reuters) - I t was the cultural heart of a Ukrainian city, but it turned into a symbol of death. Today the Mariupol Drama Theatre, where hundreds of civilians were killed in a Russian air strike on March 16, is reduced to a roofless, rubble-filled shell.

The facade still stands, crowned by a Greek-style pediment where the sculpted figures of a group of performers, some with musical instruments, remain intact. But Reuters reporters who visited the Russian-controlled city on Saturday were able to confirm that authorities are demolishing and clearing what is left of the smashed rear portion of the building - about half of the original structure.

Drone footage showed an excavator reaching high into the air to claw down chunks of masonry, which collapsed to the ground in clouds of dust. A yellow bulldozer was in motion nearby. The bombing of the theatre - now entirely fenced off behind a tall white screen - was part of a protracted Russian siege of the southern port city, which held out for more than two months but was left with most of its buildings in ruins.

Civilians had taken refuge in the theatre and the Russian word for "Children" had been painted on the ground in large white letters, clearly visible from the air. Russia denies targeting civilians. At the time, its defence ministry accused the Azov Regiment, a unit of Ukraine's armed forces, of blowing up the theatre.

Ukrainian officials said at least 300 people were killed in the bombing, though some estimates said the toll was higher. They say the clearing of the site is part of an attempt by Russia to remove the evidence.

"Now the memories of hundreds of thousands of Mariupol residents and evidence of the genocide of Ukrainians are being taken to ... landfill," Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the exiled mayor of Mariupol, posted on social media on Saturday. "Rage. Just Rage," he wrote.

Russia's TASS news agency quoted the theatre's director, Igor Solonin, as saying that the demolition concerned "only that part of the building that is impossible to restore". It said plans called for reconstruction to be complete by the end of 2024.

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