NEW SATELLITE IMAGERY has revealed the scale of damage to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol amid Russia’s invasion of the country.
The imagery, captured yesterday by Maxar Technologies, a geospatial intelligence company based in the US state of Colorado, includes a before and after comparison showing buildings damaged and destroyed, with debris and wreckage strewn across roads.
Another image shows the roof of Mariupol’s theatre having fallen through.
Ukrainian authorities have said approximately 300 people were killed in a 16 March Russian attack on the theatre while it was being used as a shelter.
The bloodshed at the theatre fuelled allegations Moscow is committing war crimes by killing civilians.
The Russian word for children – дети – can be seen written in large white letters on the ground outside the theatre, in an apparent effort to deter an attack.
Maxar also captured images of multiple apartment buildings having been destroyed.
One image shows three apartment buildings, side by side, each surrounded by collapsed debris.
The US government has stated its belief that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.
American secretary of state Antony Blinken said on 23 March: “We’ve seen numerous credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities.
“Russia’s forces have destroyed apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, critical infrastructure, civilian vehicles, shopping centres and ambulances, leaving thousands of innocent civilians killed or wounded.”
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said yesterday that a total of 1,179 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began, warning however that it believes the true figure is “considerably higher”.
It also said: “Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes.”
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