Ukraine report on mass grave 300 meters long near Mariupol - Mayor speaks of mobile crematoria

Created: 04/22/2022, 04:49 am

By: Richard Strobl, Stephanie Munk, Fabian Müller

Putin's defense minister reports control of Mariupol.

There are reports of a nearby mass grave.

The news ticker.

• Ukraine conflict

  *: Selenskyj does not consider Mariupol to be lost and talks about a plan for reconquest.

• Putin's Defense Minister Shoigu announces the

  capture of Mariupol

  .

  Putin wants to block the steelworks where civilians are staying - "

  not even a fly should get through it

  ".

• Mass grave near Mariupol: A mass grave almost 300 meters long is said to have been discovered near Mariupol.

• This 

  news ticker on the military situation in the Ukraine conflict

   is continuously updated.

Update from April 21, 10:33 p.m .:

Russia has reported the capture of the contested port city of Mariupol.

The USA now contradicted this.

The Ukrainian fighters continue to control parts of the city.

, the US State Department spokesman described the report from Russia

as a “show for the media” and another case of Russian disinformation.

Vladimir Putin previously congratulated his defense minister on the "liberation of Mariupol" on TV.

Ukraine-News: Russia's army seems to be better organized now

Update from April 21, 8:48 p.m .:

According to experts, the Russian military has now improved its warfare in the Ukraine conflict.

Experts familiar with the current situation told the Reuters news agency that Russia had solved some problems that existed at the start of the war of aggression.

The command structure would now work more effectively, artillery and drones would also be used more sensibly and effectively, and the units would act in a more cohesive manner.

This could also be due to the fact that Vladimir Putin recently appointed a commander-in-chief for the Ukraine campaign in Alexander Dvornikov - who had become known as the "butcher of Syria".

Previously, there had been no Russian military to coordinate the entire war.

Ukraine atrocity: Apparently mass grave discovered near Mariupol

Update from April 21, 7:49 p.m.:

According to the

, a mass grave almost 300 meters long was discovered in a village near Mariupol.

The newspaper refers to satellite images.

The pit was therefore already dug between March 23rd and 29th.

An advisor to the mayor of Mariupol had previously said that the Russian military had dug up a mass grave for killed Ukrainians in a village near Mariupol.

According to the report, however, the consultant himself was shocked by the extent of the mass grave.

An independent verification of this report is currently not possible.

Neither the photos of the mass grave can be confirmed, nor who could have dug it for what purpose.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko told the British

on Thursday that Russia had trucked the bodies of civilians killed in the shelling in Mariupol to the mass grave.

So they tried to hide "evidence of crime".

The mayor estimates that more than 20,000 Mariupol residents have died since the war began.

Most of the bodies have since been removed.

Mobile crematoria were also used.

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

Update from April 21, 6:42 p.m .:

According to Russian information, the army has taken Mariupol – with the exception of the steel mill.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not believe that the port city of Mariupol is 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: Mariupol Steelworks still at center of fighting

Update from April 21, 3:55 p.m .:

The Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol is still in the center of the fighting.

Vadym Boichenko, the mayor of Mariupol, said Thursday there is currently no way to evacuate civilians from the facility.

At the same time, he appealed for a ceasefire and an evacuation corridor to be made possible as soon as possible.

Since March 13 managed to remove more than 100,000 civilians from the port city of Mariupol.

According to Boichenko, around 100,000 people are still in the city.

"Unfortunately, many residents chose to stay in the city because they assumed the routes were not safe." Only four buses left the city on Wednesday, taking 80 civilians to Zaporizhia.

Mariupol is strategically located.

The city is located on the Sea of ​​Azov and represents the land connection between Crimea, which was annexed by Russia, and the Donbas. Military experts and analysts therefore also assume that Ukraine, like Russia, does not want to give up the fight for Mariupol.

Video screenshot of the city of Mariupol from April 18: the Azovstal Group steelworks there under fire © Cover-Images/Imago

Ukraine war: prisoner exchange with Russia

Update from April 21, 2:49 p.m .:

Ukraine has informed about another prisoner exchange with Russia.

"Today we took 19 people home, ten of whom are soldiers and nine civilians," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on social networks on Thursday.

There are wounded among the returned Ukrainian prisoners.

She did not provide any information about the transfer location and the exchanged Russian prisoners.

There was initially no confirmation from the Russian side.

Kyiv had declared that it had taken around 700 prisoners since the outbreak of the war.

According to Russian information, several thousand prisoners are already in the hands of Russia and the separatists.

War in Ukraine: Thousands dead probably in morgues in the Kyiv region

Update from April 21, 1:05 p.m .:

According to Ukrainian information, there are currently more than a thousand civilian deaths in the morgues in the Kiev region.

"1020 bodies - exclusively civilians - are in the areas of the Kyiv region," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna said on Thursday during a visit to the town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv.

These are all civilian fatalities found in the region so far.

They have been recovered from homes and streets since February 24, the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the deputy prime minister said. Russian forces withdrew from the capital's region at the end of March.

War in Ukraine: Commander sends desperation call from besieged steelworks directly to Germany

Update from April 21, 12:17 p.m .:

A Ukrainian commander who, like apparently hundreds of other soldiers and civilians, has holed up in the steelworks of the completely destroyed Mariupol, is probably making an appeal directly to Germany.

During the night he sent a message to the

(FAZ) via a messenger service, as the newspaper reports.

The appeal is aimed "at the German people", the Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier* and the Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock*.

The commander of the 36th brigade of the marines, Serhiy Volyna, wrote according to the

: “Mariupol can still be saved!

The world needs to say 'never again' and help us.”

He asked Germany to "act as a guarantor for the safe evacuation of the civilian population and the military from the besieged city".

The evil that was able to stop the world in 1945 is back now.

The Germans have this "in memory like nobody else".

Volyna is further quoted: "The Russian occupiers are destroying our cities, killing our children, raping our women and committing genocide against our people." Germany can now "put itself on the right side of history and stop fascism in the bud before it everything around is burning".

In the basement of the Mariupol Steelworks, “my wounded soldiers lay with the pus from their wounds” while the city was constantly being shelled by Russia.

Ukraine War: Russia reports intense shelling of Ukraine

Update from April 21, 11:41 a.m .:

The spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense reports on the intensive shelling of targets in Ukraine last night.

The Russian Air Force has flown 20 strikes against troop concentrations and military equipment, Igor Konashenkov said.

Rocket forces and artillery shelled 1001 military objects in Ukraine, including command posts, artillery positions and troop concentrations.

The Russian air defense intercepted a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile, he said.

Update from April 21, 11:32 a.m .:

According to their own statements, Putin’s troops have taken the small town of Kreminna in eastern Ukraine, which the Ukrainian army had previously converted into a fortification.

"Due to the dashing and coordinated action of the stormtroopers, it was possible to avoid serious destruction of objects of the city's infrastructure," said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov on Thursday.

These reports could not be independently verified.

However, in the days before there had been reports from the Ukrainian side that the city of Kreminna had fallen in the Ukraine war.

Ukraine War: Apparently 1000 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers in the steel mill

Update from April 21, 11 a.m.:

The Ukrainian government has demanded a humanitarian corridor from Russia for the encircled Azovstal steel plant in 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 on Thursday.

She called on "the world" to concentrate all efforts in the Ukraine war on the steelworks.

Ukraine war: According to Russia, Mariupol is mined everywhere

April 21 update.

10:35 a.m .:

Russia’s Defense Minister Shoigu announced on Thursday that the city of Mariupol was heavily mined.

"All important objects of the city infrastructure, including the seaport and the fairway, were not only mined, but also blocked by floating cranes," he said.

As a result, many foreign ships were prevented from exiting.

Update from April 21, 10:19 a.m .:

According to Vladimir Putin, the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where Ukrainian fighters and civilians are still staying, should be completely blocked.

Not even a fly should get through without being spotted, the Russian media quoted the Russian president as saying, according to a report in

.

Putin is said to have withdrawn an order to storm the steelworks (see first report).

In this photo released by the Press Office of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin (l), President of Russia, and Sergei Shoigu, Defense Minister of Russia, sit across from each other during a meeting in the Kremlin.

© Russian Presidential Press Service/AP/dpa

Ukraine war: Kyiv representative suddenly speaks of "test attacks" by Russia

Kyiv - Has Russia's new major offensive in the Ukraine war already begun or are the worst attacks by Vladimir Putin's troops yet to come?

According to the Secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council, the latter is the case.

Oleksiy Danilov said in a radio interview that Russia's major offensive in Ukraine has not yet started.

This was reported by the Ukrainian Internet newspaper

on Wednesday evening (April 20).

On Tuesday morning there were attacks along the entire front line in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions, Danilov said.

However, it is likely that these were only “test attacks”.

Ukraine war: pessimistic forecast for whole country - battle for Donbass will not be the last

When the so-called great offensive begins is only a matter of time, Danilov said.

Moscow could still build new resources and reserves in bulk over the next two to four weeks.

He also warned against thinking that the battles for Donbass would be the last and decisive battle in the war.

"I wouldn't be so optimistic, there could be a lot of different things ahead of us."

For several days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj* has been expecting the start of a major offensive by Russian troops who, after withdrawing from areas around the capital Kyiv and in the north-east of the country at the beginning of April, are now repositioning themselves in the Russian border regions with Ukraine or in the east of Ukraine .

Ukraine War: Russia's defense minister claims to have taken Mariupol

According to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Russian military has meanwhile taken control of the embattled southeastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol.

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

However, the capture of Mariupol does not apply to the Azovstal Steelworks, where civilians are still staying.

A resident walks past a damaged apartment building in Mariupol with luggage (archive image) © Victor/Xinhua/dpa

Ukraine war: Putin does not want to storm the steel plant in Mariupol after all

"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, Putin said.

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.

No one left the plant via the humanitarian corridors offered, the minister said.

Earlier, the Ukrainian side proposed negotiations on the fate of the fighters and the rescue of civilians who had taken refuge in the plant.

Experts fear that the remaining civilians in Mariupol face even worse than in Bucha*, where bodies of civilians and mass graves were found after the Russian troops withdrew.