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Military operation in Ukraine

Mariupol Theater blown up from inside — DPR Militia

According to the Russian defense ministry, the theater was blown up by the Azov battalion nationalists on March 16

MARIUPOL, April 12. /TASS/. The epicenter of the explosion in the Mariupol Theater apparently was located inside the building, Yuri Bukharev, a spokesman for the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, DPR representatives demonstrated to journalists the destroyed building of the Mariupol Theater and documents of Ukrainian units deployed in the theater’s building, their weapons and uniforms burnt in the fire that followed the explosion.

"Judging by the character of the explosion, it can be said quite confidently that the blast occurred inside the building. I spoke with an eyewitness, who said that no planes flew over the area before the explosion, neither were there any shelling attacks. At the moment of the explosion he was standing with his back to the theater and was thrown four meters ahead. It means that the explosion was very powerful and originated from inside," Bukharev said, adding that the amount of weapons retrieved from the building indicated that there might be up to an army company inside.

According to the Russian defense ministry, the theater was blown up by the Azov battalion nationalists on March 16. Kiev tried to put the blame for the blast on Russian troops but the Russian defense ministry denied these accusations.

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Foreign policy Military operation in Ukraine

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