Russia accused of ‘genocide’ with mass graves holding up to 9K civilians near Mariupol
By Jesse O’Neill
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko revealed the grim development Thursday and called the site of the atrocities in the nearby village of Manhush “the new Babi Yar,” a reference to the Ukrainian Holocaust site where tens of thousands of Jews were killed in World War II.
Then Hitler killed Jews, Roma and Slavs. And now Putin is destroying Ukrainians. He has already killed tens of thousands of civilians in Mariupol,” Boychenko said Thursday, according to his city council.
“This requires a strong reaction from the entire world. We need to stop the genocide by any means possible.”
Boychenko accused Russian invaders of “hiding their war crimes” by digging huge trenches near Manhush, 12 miles west of Mariupol, and disposing of bodies there.
Satellite photos of mass graves shared by Ukrainian media Thursday depict an eerily similar scene to the burial sites found outside Kyiv earlier this month. The new images could not immediately be verified.
Meanwhile, Russia continued to shell humanitarian corridors in Mariupol Thursday, violating its cease-fire agreement and preventing residents from evacuating the strategically pivotal southern port city, according to officials.
“No happy news out of Mariupol. Everything has been hard-going,” Ukrainian deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk wrote on Telegram. “On the Russian side, everything has been very difficult, chaotic, slow, and of course, dishonest.”