In the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, in the Donetsk Oblast, Vladimir Putin’s forces have begun assembling the main Christmas tree near a theatre – the exact spot where a large number of civilians, including children, were killed while sheltering from Russian bombs.

“Today the occupiers, seeking to erase the traces of their war crimes, are installing the main (bloody) Christmas tree next to the theatre,” Mariupol City Council wrote in a post on Telegram on Monday (December 1).

“They want children not to honour their fallen peers there, but to dance in circles and celebrate beside the place where people were killed.”

In addition, the Russians plan to officially reopen the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre for this year’s theatre season, following more than three years of reconstruction after the building was largely destroyed in the military airstrikes. They intend to open the season with Russian productions of The Scarlet Flower and The Empress’s Favourite – the former being a fairytale similar to Beauty and the Beast.

“They will quite literally be performing on the blood of murdered people,” the council said.

It added that on March 16, 2022, instead of a Christmas tree, the Russian word “ДЕТИ” (“children”) was painted outside the Drama Theatre, in such large lettering that it was visible from the air. At that time, families with children were sheltering in the building from attacks. It is understood that this was written to inform Russian military planes that children were inside.

However, Russian troops showed no mercy and dropped bombs on the theatre. According to AP, up to 600 people may have been killed, but the precise figures are not known due to the fact that Mariupol continues to be occupied. The attack was described by Amnesty International as a “clear war crime” by Russian forces.

From the start of the full-scale invasion until its destruction, the Mariupol theatre had served as a refuge for civilians, providing food and water, as well as being a centre of information about evacuation corridors and a gathering point for those evacuations.

Between February 24, when the siege of Mariupol began, and March 4, around 100 people used the theatre as a shelter, many being theatre staff along with their families and others fleeing violence in early 2022. The siege of the city continued until May 20, when all remaining Ukrainian troops in the city surrendered.

According to Ukraine, around 25,000 civilians were killed, and over 50,000 were deported, though Russia claims the former was only 3,000. The UN confirmed that 1,348 civilians had been killed, but the total number is thought to be “thousands higher”.

In 2023, a construction team from Saint Petersburg began restoration work on the building. This reconstruction is believed to have been completed last month, with the scheduled reopening to occur this month.

On November 25, Ukraine said it had agreed to “the core terms” of a peace deal brokered by the US. The Trump administration had proposed a 28-point peace plan designed to end the war, a framework that would require Ukraine to give up its eastern Donbas region, which includes Mariupol, and Crimea. Changes have been made to the original peace proposal, but the nature of these modifications remains unknown.