Journalists from the Associated Press studied satellite imagery and drone footage taken between March and December and found at least 10,300 new graves in Mariupol. Each of them can have several bodies.
This means that the dead may not be 25 thousand, as the Ukrainian authorities previously estimated, but two or even three times more – about 75 thousand. Three forensic experts who deal with mass graves in the context of war crimes investigations confirmed that AP's assessment is in line with reality.
Most of the graves were found at the Starokrymsky cemetery on the outskirts of Mariupol – 8.5 thousand. Mariupol residents who died because of the war were also buried in the villages of Mangush and Vinogradnoye. In addition, the images show trench burials, including those created by the Ukrainians themselves at the beginning of the siege of Mariupol.
The graves are visible on the photo and video materials as earth mounds, near some there are crosses with names and dates, but most often there are small plates with numbers written by hand.
Journalists speculate that thousands more bodies were probably not buried in these cemeteries.
Ukrainian authorities reported at least 25,000 dead in the city back in May. In June, the UN was able to confirm the deaths of 1,348 civilians.