Russian troops are reportedly dumping bags filled with bodies into freshly dug mass graves in Mariupol.
As Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continues towards the end of its second month, a statement from an adviser to the Mariupol Mayor accused them of the latest atrocity.
The Kremlin’s troops have reportedly built several mass graves near a bypass road in the besieged southern Ukrainian port city, and are dumping bodies packed inside plastic bags into the holes.
Petro Andriushchenko shared the statement on Telegram, writing: “Mariupol. Right now. War crimes. After a long search and identification of the mass graves of the dead Mariupol residents, we have revealed the fact of building mass graves for the dead in the village of Manhush.
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“Near a bypass road, the occupiers built several mass graves, up to 30 meters each. They use trucks to deliver the bodies of the dead and simply throw them in bulk.”
He claimed the bodies were all stuffed into plastic bags.
He added: “This confirms our previous information that they are accumulating the bodies of the dead elsewhere within the industrial area in Mariupol.
“This is direct evidence of war crimes and their attempts to hide them.”
It is the latest reminder of the kind of atrocities Russia has committed so far in this war.
A US satellite firm similarly identified a mass burial site containing about 200 graves near the same city.
Maxar said its images showed the graves were growing in size and that they had begun towards the end of March.
Local Ukrainian officials accused Russia of burying slaughtered civilians there.
The alleged mass grave is near a village called Manhush, around 12 miles west of Mariupol.
Mariupol has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the invasion so far.
The city is strategically important and if taken by Russia, would be the first major city to fall and give them a land bridge between Russian controlled territories in the Donbas and Crimea.
As things stand Putin’s troops control most of the city, with the remaining Ukrainian forces holed up in a massive iron and steel factory.
The Ukrainian forces, led by Major Serhiy Volyna of the 36th Separate, are trapped in the factory with around 500 dead and hundreds of civilians.
However Putin told his generals not to storm the factory but “block it so a fly can’t pass”.
