US company says mass grave site in Manhush village has expanded in recent weeks to contain more than 200 new graves.
Satellite imagery from near the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol shows a mass grave site that has expanded in recent weeks to contain more than 200 new graves, a private US company has said.
Maxar Technologies, which collects and publishes satellite imagery of Ukraine, said on Thursday that a review of images from mid-March through to mid-April indicates that expansion of the mass grave began between March 23 and 26.
The site lies adjacent to an existing cemetery in the village of Manhush, 20km (12 miles) west of Mariupol, the company said.
Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boychenko, said in a Telegram post that as many as 9,000 civilians could be buried in the mass grave.
“The greatest war crime of the 21st century has been committed in Mariupol,” he said.
“This is the new Babi Yar,” the mayor said, referring to the site of multiple Nazi massacres of Ukrainian Jews in 1941.
“Then Hitler killed Jews, Roma and Slavs. And now Putin is destroying Ukrainians. He has already killed tens of thousands of civilians in Mariupol,” he said.
“This requires a strong reaction from the entire world. We need to stop the genocide by any means possible.”
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