The mayor of Mariupol confirms that there are three mass graves on the outskirts of the city
A satellite image from March 23 shows a cemetery on the edge of Manhoush.
A third mass grave has been found near Mariupol, the mayor of the besieged southeastern city told Ukrainian TV on Tuesday.
In addition to the mass graves that were discovered in the villages of Mangosh and Vinohradny, “we now see that there is another one,” Vadim Boychenko said.
New satellite images showed a mass grave in the town of Stari Kerim, according to the city authorities’ Telegram channel.
The Crimean City Council said that the photos showed trenches dug in the territory of the ancient Crimean cemetery.
The city council said they appeared on March 24 after the Russians occupied the village, and it was between 60 and 70 meters long.
By April 7, according to new footage, part of the trenches had been covered, the council said, and the burial area had grown.
“On April 24, new trenches were recorded. The length of the mass grave has increased to more than 200 meters,” he said.
Boychenko accused the Russian forces of implicating the local population in mass burials in exchange for food.
“that they [los lugareños] They told us you had to work “hours” to get food and water. Now there is not enough humanitarian aid in Mariupol, so people are forced to do it.”
CNN cannot confirm the city’s account of the mass graves. Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL) released the images, from Planet Labs, for the first time on Monday.
CNN has reviewed satellite images purporting to show mass graves at Vynohradne, but it’s unclear, beyond the ground disturbance, what may have happened there.
Last week, Ukrainian authorities located the mass graves in Manhush, near Mariupol, after the release of satellite images collected and analyzed by Maxar Technologies.
Petro Andryushenko, an advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol, posted information about the Manhush mass grave on Telegram on Thursday.
He wrote: “As a result of a long search and acquaintance with the places of mass burial of the dead residents of Mariupol, we established the fact of the disposal and mass burial of the dead residents of Mariupol in the village of Manhush.”
Andryushenko – who is not in Mariupol but has acted as a clearinghouse for information from within the besieged city – said Russian forces have dug several mass graves, each about 30 meters long, in Manhush, a village about 20 kilometers west of Mariupol.
On Tuesday, Boychenko repeated that about 20 thousand residents of Mariupol had been killed since the beginning of the invasion.
“The situation in Mariupol remains very difficult,” he said. “Enemy artillery shells bombard our fortress at Azovstal,” the steel mill where Ukrainian soldiers and civilians took refuge.
“There are women and children inside. A ceasefire is required to start the evacuation. Unfortunately, there is no ceasefire,” Boychenko said. “People are running out of food, there is hardly any water to drink. It is a humanitarian disaster.”