Mass burials near Mariupol has doubled in two months
The territory of mass burials in the russian-occupied village of Staryi Krym near Mariupol has doubled in two months.
It was reported by the Skhemy project (Radio Svoboda) based on the data from the Planet Labs satellite.
"According to the Mariupol City Council, more than 15,000 citizens may be buried there in total," Skhemy notes.
On June 29, the satellite recorded the equipment used by the occupiers to dig trenches in the cemetery near the village of Staryi Krym, near Mariupol in the Donetsk region. It is noted that since the city's occupation, dead residents have been buried en masse in such trenches.
Compared to the May 8 Planet Labs satellite image, the area of mass graves in this cemetery has almost doubled.
According to the Mariupol mayor's adviser, Petro Andryushchenko, this may be due to the fact that the occupiers began to dismantle the rubble of multi-story buildings damaged and destroyed by the russian army. Andryushchenko noted that there might be up to a hundred dead locals in each house.
According to him, workers of the so-called "state funeral services" and the forensic medical examination controlled by the occupiers retrieve 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 separate graves. According to Andryushchenko, the occupiers charge approximately 20,000 hryvnias for such services.
However, even for money, people are not buried immediately. Relatives have to wait about two weeks. It is due to the fact that there are problems with wood in Mariupol, so coffins are usually brought from the occupied Donetsk region.
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