Russian forces accused of secret burials of Mariupol civilians

Later on Thursday, the US company Maxar Technologies released images of what appeared to be a mass grave in the same area. The site had been expanded in recent weeks to contain more than 200 new graves, Maxar said.

Speaking in Moscow on Thursday, Putin ordered his forces not to storm the sprawling factory complex, after his defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, admitted that the Russian army was still fighting thousands of Ukrainian soldiers there.

Western officials estimate Moscow has somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 troops in the Mariupol area, some of whom can now be freed up to go north and envelop the Ukrainians defending the Donbas region. Ukrainian forces there are already outnumbered by three to one.

The mayor said 80 people managed to get out on Wednesday in four buses and successfully crossed into Ukrainian government-controlled territory. No evacuation took place on Thursday, he added, because Russia shelled the meeting point where residents were told to gather.

In the absence of a clearcut victory, a Russian T-80 tank crew performed a celebratory spin in a Mariupol square, crashing through a barrier. The encircled Ukrainian army has practically run out of ammunition, limiting its ability to counterattack.

The Russian defence ministry has refused to say how many sailors died on board the Moskva cruiser, which sank last week, leading angry parents of soldiers to go public with demands for the government to find their children.

Additional reporting by Dan Sabbagh