Additional pits discovered near Mariupol, Ukraine. photo = AFP
Several other pits that appear to be mass burials have been discovered near the port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, foreign media reports said.
According to the AP on the 22nd (local time), US private satellite company Maxa Technology distributed satellite images of several 40-meter-long pits excavated near the cemetery in Vinoradne on the same day. This photo was taken on the 29th of last month.
“This once once more confirms that the occupants are collecting, cremating and burying the bodies of the dead in all areas of the city,” Pyotr Andryushenko, mayor’s advisor to Mariupol, told social media.
Previously, Maxa Technology released a satellite image of a pit that appeared to be used for mass burial near the cemetery in the town of Manhu, regarding 14 km west of Mariupol, the day before.
More than 300 of these pits have been discovered, measuring 180 cm wide and 3 meters long. It is known that the excavation was excavated for two weeks between last month and this month, when the Russian army occupied the village.
Ukraine has accused Russia of creating these pits to cover up the massacre of civilians. Local authorities estimated that the pit found in Manhu city might be burial of 9,000 bodies.
“This large tomb was created for the dead Mariupol civilians,” said aide Andryushenko. “Russian military forces asked residents to pick up black plastic bags from the streets and carry them to a pit in Manhussi. He testified that he saw what was in it.”
Earlier this month, Putin and the Russian military received fierce condemnation from the international community when the genocide of civilians was discovered in Bucha, a city near Kiiu, the Ukrainian capital.
Meanwhile, Russia did not react at all to satellite images of the mass burial site, and announced the day before that it had succeeded in completely capturing Mariupol, a key point in the south.
Reporter Noh Jeong-dong, Hankyung.com [email protected]
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