Mounds of dirt seen in satellite imagery that Ukrainian officials say indicate new mass graves highlighted the savagery of a war that yesterday showed no signs of abating, as Russia pounded targets in eastern Ukraine in a new offensive to take the country’s industrial heartland.
Cities in the Donbas came under Russian fire overnight, and the attacks interfered with attempts to evacuate civilians in one area, a regional official said.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the battle for Mariupol, even though an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian remain holed up at a giant steel mill in the strategic city.
Photo: Reuters
Hours later, Maxar Technologies released new satellite images that it said showed more than 200 graves in a town near Mariupol. In the images, long rows of dirt mounds stretch away from an existing cemetery in Manhush. Local officials accused Russia of burying up to 9,000 Ukrainian civilians in mass graves in an effort to conceal the slaughter taking place in the port city, which has been under siege since the early days of the war.
“The bodies of the dead were being brought by the truckload and actually simply being dumped in mounds,” Piotr Andryushchenko, an aide to Mariupol’s mayor, said on Telegram.
There was no immediate reaction from the Kremlin on the satellite pictures.
Photo: Reuters
Russia yesterday repeated that the “second phase” of the war was under way — but instead of a full-out assault, scattered towns in the east have experienced the intimidating thuds of incoming shells that drive citizens out in panic.
Slovyansk, a city of about 100,000 in eastern Ukraine, came under fire during the night, said Mayor Vadym Lyakh, who said no injuries were reported.
In Rubizhne, Russian fire prevented attempts to bring buses in for civilian evacuation, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said.
More intensive shelling was also heard overnight in Kharkiv, a northeastern city that lies outside of the Donbas, but has been struck repeatedly.
If successful, the campaign in the Donbas would give Putin a vital piece of the country and a badly needed victory to show the Russian people amid the war’s mounting casualties and the economic hardship caused by Western sanctions.
However, analysts say Russian forces have yet to have any major breakthroughs there.
A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the Pentagon’s assessment, said the Ukrainians were hindering the Russian effort to push south from Izyum, which lies outside of the Donbas.
Despite that, a Russian official yesterday repeated that its forces aim to take full control of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Major General Rustam Minnekayev, acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District, said such a move would also open the way to Moldova, where Russia backs the breakaway region of Transnistria.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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