Local people in the town of Staryi Krym looked on as the invaders broke cemetery crosses and drove their tanks repeatedly over the tombstones, public broadcaster Polish Radio's polskieradio24.pl website reported, citing Ukraine’s Unian news agency.
The cemetery, regarded as one of the largest in Europe, was utterly destroyed as a result of the vandalism, according to polskieradio24.pl.
A local newspaper denounced the destruction as “sacrilege,” polskieradio24.pl said.
Russian troops were stationed near the cemetery after they entered Staryi Krym between March 10 and 12, according to the website.
Battle for Mariupol
Meanwhile, fierce fighting continued over nearby Mariupol, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov, polskieradio24.pl reported.
Russia is laying siege to the coastal city as it seeks to establish a land link between Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and the Crimean Peninsula, the website said.
It cited Mariupol’s Mayor Vadym Boychenko as saying that half of the city remained under Ukrainian control, while Russian forces and troops from the so-called “Donbas People’s Republic” have seized the remaining part.
“But the aggressors have great numerical advantage, 10-15 to 1,” Boychenko said, as quoted by polskieradio24.pl.
Mariupol is being subjected to “systematic shelling from sea and air” that is destroying “the city’s entire infrastructure,” the mayor added, according to polskieradio24.pl.
“But our boys are holding out,” Boychenko declared, as quoted by polskieradio.pl.
Tuesday is day 41 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: polskieradio24.pl