Mariupol mayor: Third mass grave discovered

The mayor of Mariupol said on Tuesday that a third mass grave had been found near the besieged Ukrainian city.

Vadym Boichenko told Ukrainian television “now we see there is another one” in addition to those in Mangush and Vynohradne, according to CNN.

Axios noted that Boichenko told Radio Free Europe that satellite imagery showing excavated trenches about 60 to 70 meters long in the village of Staryi Krym corresponds with information gathered by Ukrainian officials.

Boichenko also reportedly told Radio Svoboda that “these fascists” are involving the local population in digging the graves.

“They told us that you need to work hours (for) food, water,” he said, USA Today reported. “People are forced to do so.”

Satellite imagery released on Saturday depicted another mass grave site in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, just as U.S. officials work with Ukraine to help gather evidence of alleged Russian war crimes.

Maxar Technologies, the company that captured the satellite images of the site, also cited social media footage showing dozens of dead civilians being buried en masse in that grave.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied its forces have committed war crimes, including the targeting of civilians, according to Axios, though the International Criminal Court has opened investigations into the actions of Moscow’s troops.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Lithuanian lawmakers earlier this month that “almost every day new mass graves are found.”

–Updated at 9:51 a.m.