# "They Came To Kill Us" - Inside Russia's Mariupol Theater Attack Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/war-conflict-with-preston-stewart-7458288/they-came-to-kill-us-inside-russia-s-mariupol-theater-attack Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/war-conflict-with-preston-stewart-7458288/they-came-to-kill-us-inside-russia-s-mariupol-theater-attack.md Podcast: [War & Conflict with Preston Stewart](https://stenobird.com/podcast/war-conflict-with-preston-stewart-7458288) Published: 2026-05-13T16:30:00+00:00 Episode link: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/AETTA9671893484.mp3 Audio file: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/AETTA9671893484.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/war-conflict-with-preston-stewart-7458288/episodes/they-came-to-kill-us-inside-russia-s-mariupol-theater-attack Duration seconds: 2090 ## Resource Pick up 'The Theater' here: https://jamesverini.com/book/the-theater/Atlantic article covering the release: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/mariupol-theater-survival-ukraine/687112/?gift=hVZeG3M9DnxL4CekrWGK3yvwArFWsP5zibKOdYRScUM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=shareIn 2022 the Ukrainian city of Mariupol was under siege by the Russian Army. The theatre there had been established as a humanitarian shelter, full of women and children and clearly marked from above. That didn’t matter.On March 16th the Russian Army attacked anyways. According to Amnesty International, two 1,000 lb bombs were dropped on the theater full of civilians. Casualty estimates vary from dozens killed to more than 600 lost in the strike. Part of the confusion there is that the clean up was done by Russian forces, who to this day, deny responsibility.Thankfully people like James Verini have put together incredible accounts from that tragic event, documenting for the world what the brave people in that theater went through before during and after the attack. James' new book ‘The Theater’ is coming out May 19th and he’ll be donating all of his proceeds to medical aid for Ukrainians, with the help of United24 and Blue Check.Store: https://prestonstew.shop/Join the community on Substack: https://prestonstew.substack.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/prestonstew_TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@prestonstewInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/prestonstew_/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Preston-Stewart/61584740132063/Unclassified Podcast Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YmaFZihykI0iov9XgQ0uD?si=efe0b3bd89b6421dYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheUnclassifiedPodContact: preston@warstories.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/war-conflict-with-preston-stewart-7458288/episodes/they-came-to-kill-us-inside-russia-s-mariupol-theater-attack/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/war-conflict-with-preston-stewart-7458288/they-came-to-kill-us-inside-russia-s-mariupol-theater-attack.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.