Satellite photos show possible mass graves near Mariupol as Russia attacks in east

Satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies shows an area in a Ukrainian town located just over 12 miles west of Mariupol on March 19, 2022.

Credit: Maxar Technologies via Storyful KYIV, Ukraine - Satellite photos of what appeared to be rows upon rows of freshly dug mass graves on the outskirts of Mariupol brought the horrors of the war increasingly into focus, as Russia pounded away Friday at Ukrainian holdouts in the city’s steel mill and other targets in a drive to seize the country’s industrial east."Every day they drop several bombs on Azovstal," Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol's mayor, said of the besieged steelworks. "Fighting, shelling, bombing do not stop."Cities elsewhere in the Donbas also came under Russian fire overnight, and the attacks interfered with attempts to evacuate civilians.The region, home to coal mines, metal plants and heavy-equipment factories, is bracing for what could be a decisive campaign as Russian President Vladimir Putin attempts to salvage a victory from the 8-week-old war widely seen as a blunder and a humanitarian disaster.On Thursday, Putin claimed victory in the battle for the strategic southern port city of Mariupol, even though an estimated 2,000 Ukrainians remained holed up at the sprawling steelworks, which have bombarded for weeks.

Putin ordered his troops not to storm the stronghold but to seal it off.At the same time, Maxar Technologies released new satellite images that it said showed more than 200 graves in a town near Mariupol, and Andryushchenko accused Russia of burying thousands of civilians there."The graves have been dug up and corpses are still being dumped there," he said.