Russian colonel that ordered criminal attack on Mariupol Drama Theater identified
The occupiers dropped a bomb on the drama theater during the capture of Mariupol (Photo:t.me/pavlokyrylenko_donoda)
It was Russian Colonel Sergei Atroshchenko that ordered the bombing of the Mariupol Drama Theatre, a maternity hospital, and a children’s hospital as Russian forces attempted to capture the city, reported Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the Mariupol mayor, on Telegram on March 28.
"The number one killer of Mariupol residents has been identified," he wrote.
“The one who gave orders and controlled the bombing of the drama theater, maternity hospital, and children's hospital. Since the first weeks we have established that the planes that bombed Mariupol took off from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk airfield.”
The information about Colonel Atroshchenko was uncovered by the international intelligence community InformNapalm.
Atroshchenko is the commander of the military unit 75387, 960th Assault Aviation Regiment of the Russian Federation. The regiment is stationed at the air base on the outskirts of Primorsko-Akhtarsk.
The colonel was born in the Ukrainian town of Ovruch, Zhytomyr Olast, then moved to Russian Lipetsk and was registered in Voronezh.
After that, he spent time with the military unit 46451 in the village of Hvardiyske in the occupied Crimea.
He currently lives in an upscale apartment in Primorsko-Akhtarsk, about five kilometres from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk base where he works.
Russia launched an airstrike on the Donetsk Academic Oblast Drama Theater in Mariupol on March 16, 2022 – one of the war’s biggest war crimes.
Civilians, including families with children, were using the theater to hide from Russian shelling.
At the time of the tragedy, there could have been more than 1,000 people in the building.
According to various sources, between 300 and 600 civilians were killed in the Russian air strike on the Mariupol theater.
After Mariupol’s occupation, Russian invaders demolished the drama theater building to destroy evidence of their war crime.
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