New satellite images show apparent mass graves near Mariupol, where local officials accused Russia of burying up to 9,000 Ukrainian civilians to conceal the slaughter taking place in the ruined port city that's almost entirely under Russian control.
The images emerged just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday claimed victory in the battle for Mariupol, despite the presence of an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters who were still holed up at a giant steel mill. Putin ordered his troops to seal off the stronghold"so that not even a fly comes through" instead of storming it.
The graves could hold as many as 9,000 dead, the Mariupol City Council said Thursday in a post on the Telegram messaging app. In a statement, Maxar said a review of previous images indicates that the graves in Manhush were dug in late March and expanded in recent weeks. At least two Russian attacks on Thursday hit the city of Zaporizhzhia, a way station for people fleeing Mariupol. No one was wounded, the regional governor said.
"In the courtyard, there was a little cemetery, and we buried seven people there," Antipenko said, wiping away tears. The capture of Mariupol would represent the Kremlin's biggest victory yet of the war in Ukraine. It would help Moscow secure more of the coastline, complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014, and free up more forces to join the larger and potentially more consequential battle now underway for Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland, the Donbas.
The plant covers 11 square kilometers and is threaded with some 24 kilometers of tunnels and bunkers.
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