Satellite images released Wednesday show extensive damage to civilian infrastructure in and around the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
Maxar Technologies captured photos Wednesday and released images of the same areas that were taken in June 2021, prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Images show areas where there are residential homes, high-rise apartment buildings, grocery stores and shopping centers, according to Maxar.
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An overview of a children’s hospital in Mariupol is included in the images released Wednesday. It was taken prior to the reported bombing of the hospital, a Maxar spokesperson said.
According to the Associated Press, at least 17 people were wounded when a Russian airstrike damaged the hospital. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the bombing an “atrocity,” tweeting that people, including children, were under the rubble.
Britain said on March 4 that Mariupol was encircled by Russian forces. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a cease-fire was announced to allow civilians to evacuate Mariupol, Enerhodar, Volnovakha, Izyum, Sumy and towns surrounding the capital city of Kyiv.
Efforts to create safe corridors for evacuation and humanitarian aid have failed in recent days. Ukraine claims Russia violated ceasefire agreements. Russian President Vladimir Putin told Germany’s chancellor in a phone call that Ukrainian nationalists tampered with the evacuations, according to the Associated Press.
The World Health Organization said Wednesday it has verified 18 attacks on health facilities in Ukraine, including 10 deaths and 16 injuries.
“So far, WHO has delivered 81 metric tons of supplies, and WHO is establishing a pipeline of supplies for health facilities throughout Ukraine, especially in the most affected areas,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization. He said WHO is also supporting Ukraine’s neighboring countries to provide health care for refugees.
More than 2 million Ukrainians have left the country since Russian troops invaded on Feb. 24, according to the U.N., the largest number of refugees in Europe since the end of World War II. Thousands of people, both civilians and soldiers, are thought to have been killed.
