As many as 9,000 civilians could be buried in a mass grave in the village of Manhush outside Mariupol, the city's mayor said in a Telegram post Thursday.
"The greatest war crime of the 21st century has been committed in Mariupol. This is the new Babi Yar,” Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said, referring to the site of multiple Nazi massacres in which nearly 34,000 Ukrainian Jews were killed in 1941.
"Then Hitler killed Jews, Roma and Slavs. And now Putin is destroying Ukrainians. He has already killed tens of thousands of civilians in Mariupol,” he added.
“This requires a strong reaction from the entire world. We need to stop the genocide by any means possible.” In a separate statement earlier Thursday, Boychenko alleged the Russians had dug huge trenches near Manhush, 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) west of Mariupol, and were “hiding their war crimes” by dumping bodies there.
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On Thursday evening, Ukrainian media published satellite photos of Manhush, showing what they said were mass graves similar to - although much larger in size from - the ones discovered in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. The accuracy of these claims and images could not be immediately verified.