New satellite images of the war-torn city of Mariupol show the devastation that Russian airstrikes and artillery have wrought on the Ukrainian seaside city.
In the images released by Maxar Technologies on Tuesday, nearly all visible structures appear to be either damaged or destroyed. In one striking image, a large crowd of people can be seen gathered around a supermarket in the southern Ukrainian city that has been cutoff from food, water, and electricity since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded the country last month.
“We ate once a day,” a refugee from Mariupol, Kristina, told a news outlet on Tuesday, describing the lack of resources in the city because of the Russian attacks. “It was mostly in the morning or in the evening that the children cried out, saying, ‘I want to eat.’”
Outside the Metro supermarket in Mariupol, hundreds of people can be seen gathered around the outside of the building, which appears to have sustained damage to the roof during the war, possibly trying to get food.
CONFLICTING REPORTS OVER CAUSE OF RUSSIAN AMMUNITION DEPOT EXPLOSION NEAR UKRAINE BORDER
Mariupol’s mayor estimated on Monday that as many as 160,000 civilians remain in the city, where entire city blocks and apartment complexes appear to be leveled in the new satellite images. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the once-vibrant city of 400,000 has been “reduced to ashes.”
In another image, what’s left of a Mariupol theater, where 300 were reportedly killed in a Russian airstrike, can be seen. Several surrounding buildings also appear to have sustained heavy damage.
Russian forces have put an emphasis on seizing Mariupol, a key port city along the Sea of Azov.
It is estimated that 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov Battalion are defending the city against about 14,000 Russian and Chechen troops, according to a report.
Some of the war’s most brutal assaults have taken place in the southern Ukrainian city, including the attack on the theater that was serving as a civilian shelter and the bombing of a maternity hospital where several pregnant women were preparing to give birth.
On March 22, the Pentagon said there is clear evidence of war crimes being committed in the city and that Russian forces “intentionally targeted civilian infrastructure.”
While Russian forces have also suffered heavy losses in the city, Putin is expected to deploy more than 1,000 mercenaries from the Wagner Group, including senior leaders of the company, into southern Ukraine to engage in combat operations, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense said on Monday. Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton told CNN on Monday that the Wagner Group mercenaries will possibly be used “to mop up Mariupol.”
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, has described the battle for Mariupol as “a block-by-block struggle with fierce Ukrainian resistance and limited Russian gains.”
The White House said it believes Russia may redeploy troops from the Kyiv region, where Russian officials announced troops would be withdrawing from, to other parts of Ukraine.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“No one should be fooled by Russia’s announcements,” White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said on Tuesday. “We believe any movement of forces from around Kyiv is a redeployment and not a withdrawal, and the world should be prepared for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine.”
