A US satellite corporation Maxar says it has identified a mass burial site containing about 200 graves near Mariupol. The alleged mass grave is near a village called Manhush about 20km (12 miles) west of Mariupol.
Ukraine’s Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko has accused the Russian forces of obscuring proof of its “barbaric” war crimes.
“The biggest war crime of the 21st century was committed in Mariupol. This is the new Babyn Yar. Then, Hitler killed Jews, Roma, and Slavs. Now, Putin is destroying Ukrainians,” Boichenko said in the city council’s statement. “We need to do everything we can to stop the genocide,”.
The Mariupol city council says around 9000 civilians are possibly buried in the mass grave. The city council claimed that Russian forces “dug new trenches and filled them with corpses every day throughout April”, “buried in several layers.” Since the early invasion of Russian forces and attacks on the city, the mayor claimed that more than 20,000 Mariupol residents had been killed.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Mariupol, Ukraine, had been "successfully liberated" after his defence minister said that Moscow now controls the city apart from the Azovstal steel factory. Putin said, "Block off this industrial region so that not even a fly can leave”, referring to the Azovstal steel factory.