War victims in Mariupol: Satellite images are said to show another mass grave

War casualties in Mariupol
Satellite images are said to show another mass grave

Shortly after Russian troops surrounded Mariupol in early March, several images of alleged mass graves in the port city appeared. According to a member of the city council, a photo that has now been published should show the expansion of the Wynohradne cemetery on the eastern outskirts of the city.

Not far from the south-east Ukrainian port of Mariupol, which was besieged by Russian troops, satellite images indicate another possible mass grave. “This time in the left-bank district near the Vynohradne cemetery,” city council deputy Petro Andryushchenko told the Telegram news service on Friday. The occupying forces would try to cover up war crimes.

The images distributed by the US satellite photo service Maxar from March 22 to April 15 are said to show a cemetery near Wynohradne before, during and after an expansion of the graves. Wynohradne is located on the eastern edge of the port city on the Azov Sea. The day before, Ukrainian officials, based on satellite images, had already suspected a possible mass grave in Manhush about 15 kilometers west of the outskirts of the city. The information cannot be independently verified.

Shortly after the complete encirclement of Mariupol by Russian troops at the beginning of March, several photos with the dead in mass graves appeared, presumably from Mariupol. Representatives of the Ukrainian city administration assume that at least 20,000 residents have been killed as a result of the heavy fighting and bombing. Before the start of the Russian war of aggression almost two months ago, the city had around 440,000 inhabitants. Now more than 100,000 are said to be in the largely destroyed city. Russia has declared Mariupol completely conquered despite Ukrainian resistance to the Azovstal steelworks.

In a storm on the surrounded Azovstal steel works in the port city of Mariupol, the Russian troops would have to expect high losses, according to London. The Kremlin’s decision to establish a blockade around the steel mill is an attempt to contain Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol and free up Russian forces for deployment to other parts of the country.

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