Maripol
New satellite images show mass graves have been dug just outside the besieged southern port city of Mariupol and they may contain as many as nine-thousand bodies.
Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of trying to hide the slaughter of civilians during the eight weeks the city has been under attack.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has ordered his forces to halt their attacks on the last remaining stronghold in the city, a massive steel plant and, instead, throw a tight cordon around the site so no one can escape.
The British Defence Ministry says that’s likely to allow Putin to shift more troops to eastern Ukraine, where his military continues attempts to conquer the Donbas region.
Attempts to evacuate more people from Mariupol failed again yesterday, with only a few dozen people being allowed out.
Weapons
Western officials admit that time is not on their side, as they rush more heavy weapons to Ukraine.
U-S President Joe Biden has announced another 800-million-dollar package of military assistance, which will include more heavy artillery and tactical drones to attack Russian military emplacements.
Biden notes we’re in a “critical phase” of the invasion, with Russia now concentrating its efforts on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been operating for eight years.
Canada has also promised heavy artillery for Ukraine but details aren’t being released.
Sweden
Neutral Sweden may not be neutral much longer.
A public opinion poll shows a majority of Swedes back a move to join NATO.
The survey shows 51 percent of those asked would back joining the military and political alliance….up from 45 percent just one week ago.
The governments of Sweden and Finland have launched exploratory talks with NATO about signing up.
The provincial election
A new survey shows the race towards the June 2nd provincial election is tightening up.
The survey, from Abacus Data, shows that 36 percent of decided voters would cast their ballots for the P-Cs, while 32 percent would vote for the Liberals.
The New Democrats sit at 23 percent support.
The Liberals have increased their support by four percentage points since the last poll in January.
The Conservatives have lost two points, while NDP support has dropped by one point.
Sunwing’s challenges
Sun-seekers are still running into massive problems, as Sunwing Airlines continues to deal with the crash of their check-in and boarding systems.
Almost 200 flights have been affected since last Sunday, with long lineups at airports, and tens of thousands of people are stranded.
Sunwing is leasing aircraft from other airlines to clear up the backlog and has promised compensation, but what form that will take hasn’t yet been released.
The airline blames problems at their service provider, which was hacked last weekend