New satellite imagery from near the besieged city of Mariupol in Ukraine shows an extended mass grave, the commercial company that took those photos said, according to Reuters.
Maxar Technologies said Thursday that a review of its images from mid-March through mid-April indicates the expansion of a mass grave to contain more than 200 new graves. The expansion began between March 23 and March 26, and it is located near an existing cemetery in the village of Manhush, which is slightly more than 10 miles outside of Mariupol.
Stephen Wood, the senior director of the Maxar News Bureau, previously told the Washington Examiner that the company’s satellites are able to capture images above Ukraine, and they’re transmitted to a platform that the U.S. government can access within 30 to 45 minutes.
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This imagery, as well as images captured by other companies, has proved to be a vital resource for the United States, considering it doesn’t have troops inside Ukraine.
Russian forces have pummeled the city of Mariupol, a strategically important port city on the coast of the Sea of Azov. If the Russians are able to capture the city, which they’ve already surrounded, they will have a land bridge connecting the Crimea Peninsula, which they annexed in 2014, to the Donbas region in the eastern part of Ukraine, which is where their military operation is currently focused.
The Donbas region is in the eastern part of Ukraine, and there is a significant pro-Russian separatist presence, with fights between the two sides occurring since 2014.
Some of the war crimes allegations have come from Mariupol. The Russians shelled a maternity hospital in the city, they bombed a Mariupol theater that was serving as a shelter (even though locals had spelled out the word “children” in Russian in the front and back of the facility to prevent such an attack), and they bombed a school that was housing hundreds of people in the city.
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At least 1,000 civilians, including women and children, are sheltering underneath the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol alongside the city’s remaining defense forces, who are refusing to surrender to Russian troops. Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled a plan to storm the steel plant on Thursday, instead ordering Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to seal off the plant “so that not even a fly comes through.”
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko has said the death toll in the city could be above 20,000.
