Mounds of dirt seen in satellite imagery that Ukrainian officials say indicate new mass graves highlighted the savagery of a war that showed no signs of abating Friday.
KYIV, Ukraine — Mounds of dirt seen in satellite imagery that Ukrainian officials say indicate new mass graves highlighted the savagery of a war that showed no signs of abating Friday, as Russia pounded targets in eastern Ukraine in a new offensive to take the country’s industrial heartland.
Slovyansk, a city of about 100,000 in eastern Ukraine, came under fire during the night, according to Mayor Vadym Lyakh, who said no injuries were reported. But he urged residents to leave and said a convoy of buses would be organized for Friday. In Rubizhne, Russian fire prevented attempts to bring buses in for civilian evacuation, according to Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai.
But analysts say Russian forces have yet to have any major breakthroughs there. A senior U.S. 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. The battle for Mariupol has been seen as key to the eastern assault. But the institute said in an assessment published late Thursday that Russian forces in the city were likely heavily damaged and thus Moscow would struggle to redeploy them quickly to the larger campaign in the east.Mariupol has seen some of the worst suffering of the war, and the satellite images released Thursday hinted at even more.