Russia has been accused of carrying out a “big cleaning” by burning countless dead bodies in mobile crematoriums to hide the extent of its crimes in Ukraine.
In Mariupol, Ukraine says that Russian troops are rounding up the dead and burning them in a massive “cleaning” effort.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said that Russian troops in the city had been undertaking the macabre task since April 15.
It added that they had been using three mobile crematoriums in their 'clean up’ as they rounded up the bodies of the Ukrainians that they had killed.
In a statement released today they said: “Today in Mariupol occupiers carry out ‘big cleaning’.
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“The Russians are searching for and destroying the bodies of the dead. To do this, the city has three mobile crematoria since April 15.”
It is believed this is in an effort to hide Russian crimes in the city, and comes weeks after sickening revelations of mass killings in the Kyiv Oblast left the streets littered with dead.
By burning the dead it means charities, the UN and Ukraine would be unable to assess to extent of Russian actions and how many have died.
It would also make reuniting families, or informing them of their loved one’s passing, nearly impossible as well.
It has previously been reported that Russia were trying to “cover their tracks” by using the mobile crematoriums to hide the true scale of slaughter in the city.
Mariupol has been at the centre of some of the worst atrocities in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The city has been hit by relentless Russia shelling and air strikes, including targeting a maternity and children’s hospital and a shelter.
Officials said that more than 90 per cent of the city’s infrastructure had been hit by shelling.
Now, most of the city is under Russian control, with Ukrainian troops holed up in a steelworks plant.
Mariupol’s city council previously accused Russia of sending out “special brigades” to round up the dead the dead bodies and burn them.
The council quoted eyewitnesses who said they had seen “special brigades” collect “the bodies of Mariupol residents murdered and killed as a result of the Russian invasion".
On top of that, they said that because of the destruction of evidence it would be difficult to accurately assess the true number of dead and it could run into “tens of thousands civilians”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said that Russia was “cleaning up” before anyone could see what had happened in the city.
If the port city were to fall to Russia, it would give Moscow a continuous land bridge connecting its territories from the east of Ukraine to the Crimean Peninsula.
It is thought this would help it with resupplying efforts of its stuttering invasion.
