Area of mass graves near Mariupol doubles – Skhemy
IRYNA BALACHUK — THURSDAY, 7 JULY 2022, 16:14
The territory of mass burials in the Russian-occupied village of Staryi Krym near Mariupol has doubled in the last two months.
Source: Skhemy project (Radio Liberty) [an investigative reporting project] with reference to Planet Labs satellite data
Quote from Shkemy project: "According to the Mariupol city council, more than 15,000 citizens in total may be buried there."
Details: On 29 June, a satellite recorded the equipment used by the occupiers to dig trenches in a cemetery near the village of Staryi Krym, near Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast. It is noted that since the occupation of the city, dead residents have been buried en masse in such trenches.
Compared to the 8 May Planet Labs satellite image, the area of mass graves in this cemetery has almost doubled.
Petro Andriushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, suggested this may be related to the fact that the occupiers have begun to clear the rubble of multi-story apartment buildings damaged and destroyed by the Russian army. Andriushchenko noted that there may be up to a 100 bodies of local residents in each of these buildings.
He said that workers of the so-called "state funeral services" and the forensic medical examiners controlled by the occupiers remove the bodies from the rubble and most often take them to the cemetery in Staryi Krym.
The dead are buried not only in trenches but also in individual graves. Andriushchenko said the occupiers charge approximately 20,000 hryvnias [approximately 670 US dollars] for such services.
However, people are not buried immediately, even for money - relatives have to wait about 2 weeks. This is due to the fact that wood is in short supply in Mariupol so coffins are usually brought from the previously occupied Donetsk Oblast.
Background:
- Maxar Technologies satellites recorded that trenches 300 metres long appeared in a field near Manhush at the end of March where the occupiers were taking the bodies of murdered Mariupol citizens.
- The Mariupol City Council calculated that up to 9,000 people could be buried in such trenches.
- A similar mass grave was recorded by satellites in the village of Vynohradne not far from Mariupol.
- At the end of April, satellites detected that a mass burial site had appeared at the Staryi Krym cemetery in the northwestern suburbs of Mariupol.
