Satellite images show 1,500 new graves near Mariupol

New satellite images of burials near Mariupol have been released. The image from the Maxar company was published by BBC journalists.

They note that in the period from June to October 2022, another 1,500 new graves have appeared at the mass burial site near the village of Staryi Krym.

The Centre for Information Resilience analysed the images of Staryi Krym for the BBC’s Panorama programme. It now estimates that more than 4,600 graves have been dug there since the beginning of the war.

However, it says it cannot be known how many bodies are buried at the site.

Journalists emphasize that according to the estimates of the Ukrainian authorities, at least 25,000 people were killed in the fighting in Mariupol, and that 5,000-7,000 of them died under the rubble after their homes had been bombed.

At the same time, there are testimonies of people who remain in Mariupol that bodies were pulled out from the rubble and taken for burial.

As previously reported, the mass burial sites were also recorded in Manhush and the village of Vynohradne.

At the end of April, officials of the Ukrainian authorities assumed that up to 9,000 dead had been buried in Manhush.

In the same way, trenches for burials were fixed on the territory of Staryi Krym.

In addition, in the territories liberated by the Ukrainian military, the places of mass burials of both the local population and the military are regularly recorded as well.

After the liberation of Kharkiv region, the largest such place was discovered near Izium. Exhumation work is also being carried out in the liberated territory of Donetsk region.

Bodies with traces of torture and abuse are found among the dead.

Partner countries, in particular France, Poland and the Netherlands, send their investigators to Ukraine, who help establish the circumstances of the death of the discovered buried people.

International investigative teams are working in the interests of the International Criminal Court to bring Russia to justice.