WEBVTT

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the Russian airstrikes that crumbled. The Donetsk Academic Regional

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Drama theater was the deadliest single attack on civilians since

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the war began, Officials in Mariupol had estimated the

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death toll around 300 people, but evidence uncovered by

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the associated press reveals closer to 600 people were killed

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in and around the theatre on March 16. Based

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on accounts from 23 survivors, rescuers and people intimately

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familiar with the theatre, along with building floor plans

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, photos and videos, reporters were able to reconstruct

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the events leading up to the attack. On March

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five, days after the shelling began in Mariupol,

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actors, designers and theater administrators were the first to

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seek shelter inside. Two days later, people were

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already filling up the hallways and rooms with their limited

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belongings. The cloakroom became the registration site for new

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arrivals and a nearby T stand helped calm frayed nerves

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, Survivors say a steady stream of people arrive daily

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, but the numbers swelled after the attack. On

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the Maternity Hospital on March nine. As word spread

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about a safe corridor out of the besieged city,

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people assumed evacuations would be organized from the centrally located

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theater. A set designer even used white paint to

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write Children in cyrillic letters large enough to alert Russian

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warplanes. As several 100 waited, a routine settled

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in outside a water tank and a field kitchen were

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set up that could serve dozens at a time.

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On the day of the attack, witnesses say at

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least 100 people were gathered here when the right side

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of the building collapsed on them. Inside, most

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of the women and Children stayed on the second floor

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in the back of the building, in the hallways

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and the more comfortable dressing rooms. A number of

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pregnant women from the Mariupol maternity ward who were unharmed

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in the air strike ended up here. It is

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believed that no one in this section survived victorious.

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Dubowitz ca and her two Children were also on the

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second floor, but in the projection room towards the

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front of the building, only one wall initially collapsed

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, giving her family time to escape. According to

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survivors, not many people slept on the stage because

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it felt like a giant target, but pets were

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kept there and people still like to congregate in the

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auditorium footage taken days before the strike show. The

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hallways and rooms had filled up, leaving little space

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to walk through Witnesses and rescuers say it was as

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dense the morning of March 16 when the airstrike gutted

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the stage in the surrounding rooms. Mm hmm.

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While the theater took a direct hit, the damage

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was widespread. The explosion blew out the windows in

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the front of the building and crumbled walls. Most

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survivors came from the basement in the front and fled

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out the main entrance. Russia has variously claimed Ukrainian

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soldiers used the theater as a base or that they

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blew it up themselves, but no one ever saw

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Ukrainian soldiers operating inside Those who witnessed the attack say

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Russia had only one goal. The true toll of

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the attack may never be known with the theater and

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surrounding neighborhood controlled by Russian forces, crews have already

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started clearing the rubble and with it any evidence it

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contains. Yeah.