Ukraine War: A "New Babyn Yar" - Reports of mass graves near Mariupol

Created: 2022-04-22Updated: 2022-04-22 06:51

By: Katja Thorwarth, Christian Stör

Russia is said to have buried up to 9,000 people in mass graves near Mariupol.

The news ticker.

• Selenskyj has hope for Mariupol

  : "The decisive battle for our state" is imminent in the Ukraine war.

• Putin announces victory in Mariupol

  : Russia declares the port city, which is so important in the Ukraine conflict, to be conquered.

• Mariupol:

  All current developments from the strategically important port city of

  Ukraine

  in our news ticker.

Update from Friday, April 22nd, 6:35 a.m .:

Russian soldiers should

up to 9,000 residents of the embattled city of Mariupol have buried themselves in mass graves in the city of Manhush, around 20 kilometers away.

Mayor Vadym Boychenko accused Russia of genocide and called on the international community to act, the Mariupol City Council said on Telegram.

This satellite photo provided by Maxar Technologies is said to show a mass grave in Manhush near a cemetery parallel to the road.

Manhush is about 20 km west of Mariupol.

© Maxar/dpa

A long row of graves bordering a cemetery in Manhush can also be seen in new satellite images from Maxar Technologies.

Maxar said there were more than 200 mass graves.

Ukrainian media compared the graves there with those in Bucha near Kyiv, where hundreds of bodies were found after Russian soldiers withdrew.

The information cannot be independently verified.

Mass graves near Mariupol: Mayor speaks of "new Babyn Yar"

Boytschenko recalled the massacre of around 34,000 Jews in Kyiv during World War II and spoke of a "new Babyn Yar".

“At that time Hitler killed Jews, Roma and Slavs.

And now Putin is crushing Ukrainians.

He has already killed tens of thousands of civilians in Mariupol,” Boychenko was quoted as saying by the city council.

“This requires a determined response from the entire world.

We must stop this genocide by any means possible.”

Ukraine war: Selenskyj does not consider Mariupol lost - "decisive battle is imminent"

+++ 6.35 p.m .:

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj does not yet consider the port city of Mariupol, which is now controlled by Russia according to the Kremlin, to be completely lost.

"The situation is difficult, the situation is bad," the head of state said in Kyiv on Thursday, according to journalists from local media.

There are several ways to liberate the city.

"There is a military path to prepare for, and we are preparing," said Zelenskyy.

This requires the help of western partners.

"It's difficult for ourselves, we need appropriate weapons, but let's think about it," he said.

Another way is a diplomatic, humanitarian one.

Kyiv has already proposed several options to Moscow, including an exchange of "wounded for wounded".

“There are over 400 wounded in that citadel.

It's just the soldiers." There are also injured civilians.

"We have decisive days ahead of us, the decisive battle for our state, for our country, for the Ukrainian Donbass," stressed Zelenskyy.

Ukraine war: Putin declares Mariupol "liberated" - no "fly escapes"

+++ 4.48 p.m .:

After a siege of almost two months, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the “liberation” of the strategically important Ukrainian port city of Mariupol – but at the same time admitted that the steel plant with the last Ukrainian defenders of the city was still not under Russian control.

On Thursday, Putin ordered the plant to be besieged – so tightly that “not a fly can get out”.

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock accused the Russian troops of "bleeding out, starving" of Mariupol.

The situation in the city is "not only highly dramatic, it is almost unbearable," she said during a visit to Estonia and announced that the EU would continue to increase the pressure on Russia.

Ukraine war: Russia declares Mariupol 'liberated'

+++ 3.15 p.m .:

The Russian military leadership is certain: “Mariupol, which was a place of accumulation of nationalist groups, is free,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to information from the Interfax news agency.

The "special operation" is proceeding according to plan.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had previously informed Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin that the port city was under Russian control.

Many Ukrainian fighters and civilians are still trapped in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.

At the meeting with Shoigu, Putin had ordered not to storm the industrial zone.

The fighters should lay down their arms and take captives, he said.

Ukraine war in Mariupol: Russia does not storm steelworks in Mariupol

+++ 1.30 p.m .:

Taking the Ukrainian port of Mariupol was always of great strategic importance for Russia.

The most important thing for Russian President Vladimir Putin was to create a land bridge between the eastern Donbass region and the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

But now Putin has decided not to end the conquest.

Rather, he is trying to starve out the remaining Ukrainian fighters.

According to British General Richard Barrons, it is also clear why Putin made this decision.

It would have been "really difficult" for Russia to defeat the soldiers holed up at the Azovstal Steel Works without "huge casualties on both sides."

Barrons stressed to the BBC that the battle over the factory is no longer really relevant to who controls Mariupol.

Above all, the announcement of the victory should show the own people that Russia would fight a successful fight on the eve of the Russian Orthodox Easter.

"And it allows the military to stop devoting too many resources to a militarily irrelevant battle for the steel mills and to focus on what really matters now: the battle for Donbass."

A street in Mariupol.

© Nikolai Trishin/Imago Images

+++ 11.30 a.m .:

The Ukrainian government has requested a humanitarian corridor from Russia for the encircled Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol.

“There are about 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers there right now.

They must all be taken out of Azovstal today!” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk wrote on Telegram.

She called on the world to focus all efforts on the steel mill now.

"This is now the key point and moment for humanitarian efforts," Vereshchuk said.

Ukraine war: Putin announces victory in Mariupol

+++ 10.30 a.m .:

Mariupol has been the scene of heavy fighting since the beginning of March.

Now the Russian leadership around Vladimir Putin claims to have taken the port city.

The Russian President has already announced the victory in Mariupol on TV.

However, Ukrainian troops in Mariupol are still defending the Azovstal Steel Plant.

In the meantime, Putin has also given up the plan to storm the besieged factory (see update from 9:45 a.m.).

Instead, the huge factory premises in Azovstal should be hermetically sealed off.

"I don't think the proposed storming of the industrial zone is necessary," Putin said at a televised meeting with Defense Minister Shoigu in the Kremlin.

"I'm ordering you to cancel it." Instead, Russian troops were to block the compound.

Not even a fly is allowed to enter the area undetected.

Putin promised to treat the Ukrainian soldiers still on the factory premises with respect and to spare their lives if they surrendered.

War in Ukraine: Azowstal steelworks sealed off

+++ 9.45 a.m .:

The battle for Mariupol is almost decided.

According to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Russian military has taken control of the port city.

This was announced by Shoigu at a meeting with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin that was broadcast on state television.

"The remaining Ukrainian combat units entrenched themselves in the industrial area of ​​the Azovstal factory," Shoigu said.

President Putin ordered the steelworks not to be stormed.

A corresponding order should be withdrawn.

All prisoners are guaranteed life, said the Russian President.

He spoke of a success and the "liberation of Mariupol" and ordered the military involved to be decorated.

"They are all heroes," Putin said.

According to Shoigu, the Ukrainian units are completely blocked.

The minister assured that the factory should also be taken in three to four days.

Ukraine War: Battle of Mariupol nearing end

First report from Thursday, April 21, 9:00 a.m.:

Moscow/Kiev – The decision in the battle for the Ukrainian port city is imminent.

According to the leader of the Russian republic of Chechnya, the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol could fall to Russian units as early as Thursday.

"Today before or after lunch, Azovstal will be completely under the control of the Russian armed forces," Ramzan Kadyrov said on Telegram on Thursday night.

Kadyrov, whose units are fighting in Ukraine, said the Ukrainian fighters remaining at the steelworks still have a chance to surrender in the morning.

If they do, he is certain that the Russian leadership will make "the right decision."

According to Russian information, around 2,500 Ukrainian fighters and foreign mercenaries are still in the steelworks.

According to Ukrainian reports, around 1,000 civilians are said to have sought protection there.

Ukraine War: Defenders in Mariupol ask for evacuation

Earlier, the commander of the remaining marines in Mariupol said that the Ukrainian side was defending only one object, the Azovstal Steel Plant.

"The enemy outnumbers us 10 to 1," commander Serhiy Volyna said in a video message posted on Facebook.

At the same time, he asked for his fighters to be evacuated to a third country, indicating that he wanted to give up.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyj was ready for an exchange.

"We are ready to exchange our people for Russian soldiers they left behind - both corpses and wounded," said the 44-year-old.

On Wednesday evening, during talks with Russia, two representatives of the Ukrainian delegation declared their readiness to come to Mariupol to negotiate the evacuation of militants and civilians from the steel plant.

War in Ukraine: Planned evacuation from Mariupol fails again

Meanwhile, according to the Ukrainian government, a rescue of the civilian population from Mariupol failed again.

"Unfortunately, the humanitarian corridor from Mariupol did not work as planned today," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram.

The occupiers failed to get people to the agreed point in time, where buses and ambulances were waiting for them, she said.

This Thursday (April 21, 2022) there should be a new attempt.

The south-eastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol was completely surrounded by Russian troops on March 1, shortly after the start of the war.

The city and the port are largely considered to have been destroyed.

(cs/dpa)