More than 100 bodies of people that had been killed in bombardments were discovered in a house in Mariupol, Petro Andrushenko, an advisor to Mariupol’s mayor, wrote on his Telegram channel.
“New tragic findings. <...> The bodies are still underneath the rubble,” he said. The Russian occupying forces are not planning on recovering and burying the bodies, he added.
According to him, the exhumation continues, with school and kindergarten yards being the priority. “After the exhumation, the smell from the holes is dealt with. The occupants don’t deal with the consequences of the exhumation in the streets and the yards,” said the advisor to mayor.
On 20 May, the Russian Defence Ministry stated that the Azovstal steelworks had been fully “liberated” from Azov battalion fighters. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin that the operation had concluded, and that the steelworks and Mariupol had been “fully liberated from Ukrainian militants.” On 24 May, head of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” Denis Pushilin said that the Ukrainian captives from the Azovstal steelworks were in the “DPR” territory, they are facing court martial there.
Previously, Andrushenko stated that Mariupol was rapidly running out of food, and there was not enough to feed the citizens. In part, the situation is worsening due to the decline in humanitarian aid, while also, due to citizens coming back to the city from the nearby villages.