Survivor of Theater Bombing: 'Terrible Things Were Happening'

It was just one laser-guided bomb that destroyed a drama theater in Mariupol, Ukraine, last week. That's the conclusion of Mckenzie Intelligence Services, which performed an analysis of the attack for the BBC. But that single bomb is all it took to wreak devastating havoc, and the broadcaster is now relaying stories from those who survived. "This is a theater in which Russian language shows were held," a Mariupol politician posted on Facebook after the bombing, per the Daily Beast. "It is a sanctuary in which the residents ... were rescued from the continuous shelling. The world is obliged to hear the screams, moaning, voices of [those] who were buried." For the first time, from survivors themselves:

• Mariia Rodionova, 27, a teacher who was sheltering with her dogs in the theater, describes a loud boom, then the sound of glass breaking, then screams everywhere. "There was only rubble," she tells the BBC. "For two hours, I couldn't do anything. I just stayed there. I was in shock."

• A 27-year-old locksmith named Vladyslav who'd gone to the theater to look for friends was also there when the bomb hit. "Terrible things were happening," he describes the scene just minutes after the blast. "One mother was trying to find her kids under the rubble. A 5-year-old kid was screaming: 'I don't want to die'. It was heartbreaking."
• CNN talks to Serhii, a 56-year-old editor in Kyiv who knew his wife and two daughters, one with a disability, were sheltering inside the theater when the bomb hit, because he was the one who told them to seek safety there. "I almost went crazy, insane," he describes how he felt after hearing about the attack. "Because I actually sent them under the bombs."
• Serhii's family made it out, but now he's trying to find someone to rescue them from the famine-stricken village they escaped to nearby. "The destruction now is greater than the Nazis did during World War II," he says. "This is a historical remake, this is another war crime."
• Mariupol officials say other locals have been forcibly deported or even gone missing, including Julia "Taira" Paevska, a renowned medic who was said to have been captured by Russian forces earlier this month. She's said to be one of many "activists, law enforcement officers, army veterans, and volunteers" abducted by the Russians, per CNN. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US' ambassador to the UN, calls such allegations "unconscionable" if true.
• Rodionova, who couldn't find her dogs after the theater bombing, ended up fleeing the city on foot, walking for days until she reached the port city of Berdyansk. "People were in [a] panic," she tells the BBC. "No one took me in their car." Read much more about Rodionova's ordeal here.

(More Mariupol stories.)