Satellite images show mass grave near Mariupol, says port city mayor

Satellite images show mass grave near Mariupol, says port city mayor

Satellite imagery from near the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol shows a mass grave site that has expanded in recent weeks, the mayor of the port city has said.

Maxar Technologies, a private US company, has said a review of images from mid-March through mid-April indicates an expansion to contain more than 200 new graves began between 23 March and 26 March.

The site lies adjacent to an existing cemetery in the village of Manhush, 20km west of Mariupol, Maxar said.

Mayor Vadym Boichenko said the photos were evidence Russian forces were burying bodies to conceal the scale of the death toll in the city.

Russia denies what Ukraine says is evidence of atrocities, calling them staged.

Mr Boichenko also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin alone can decide the fate of the 100,000 civilians still trapped in war-torn Mariupol.

Meanwhile, European Council president Charles Michel said he urged President Putin in a phone call today to allow humanitarian access to Mariupol during Orthodox Easter this weekend.

“Strongly urged for immediate humanitarian access and safe passage from Mariupol and other besieged cities all the more on the occasion of Orthodox Easter,” Mr Michel said on Twitter after the call.

He added that he “firmly reiterated the EU’s position: support for Ukraine and her sovereignty, condemnation and sanctions for Russia’s aggression”.

Earlier, Mr Putin claimed victory in the battle for Mariupol after nearly two months of siege that has led to the most intense battles of the war and its worst humanitarian catastrophe.

Under heavy bombardment, citizens who did not flee have suffered without electricity, heating or water.

“It’s important to understand that the lives that are still there, they are in the hands of just one person – Vladimir Putin.

“And all the deaths that will happen after now will be on his hands too,” Mr Boichenko said in an interview.

Mr Putin yesterday said that Russian troops had “liberated” Mariupol, which would make it the biggest city to fall into Russian hands since the start of what Moscow calls a “special military operation”. Russia denies targeting civilians.

“There were no plans to liberate the city. It was a plan of destruction,” Mr Boichenko said.

He estimated that 90% of the southeastern port city had been damaged or destroyed since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.

“Today at all levels, we only talk about one thing – that we need a ceasefire, we need a full evacuation of the 100,000 Mariupol residents who are prisoners of Russian forces and we need to free all the people who are at Azovstal.”

While Russian troops now control most of the city, a contingent of Ukrainian fighters are holding out in the underground bunkers of the Azovstal steel complex, alongside hundreds of civilians in desperate conditions, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Mr Putin had told the defenders to lay down their weapons and surrender or die.

“The soldiers are not willing to surrender, they are willing to leave only with weapons in their hands and continue defending our homeland, our Ukraine,” said Mr Boichenko, who became mayor in 2015.

He said he still had hope something could be done to help those trapped in the city despite the failure of a ceasefire agreement this week under which 90 buses were meant to evacuate about 6,000 people.

Ceasefire deals have repeatedly fallen through, with both sides trading blame. Many of those who have left have fled in private cars or on foot.

A small convoy was able to leave the city on Wednesday, reaching the Ukraine-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia yesterday.