New satellite images show that more than 1,500 new graves have been dug near Mariupol

An analysis of new satellite images shows that more than 1,500 new graves have been dug at a mass burial site near Mariupol, which has been under Russian occupation since May. According to BBC, recent satellite images from Maxar show that three mass burial sites near Mariupol, located at Staryi Krym, Manhush, and Vinohrady, have been steadily growing since the spring.

"The Centre for Information Resilience analyzed the images of Staryi Krym for the BBC's Panorama program and concluded that 1,500 new graves had been dug there since it last analyzed images at the site in June. It now estimates that more than 4,600 graves have been dug there since the beginning of the war, although it says it cannot know how many bodies are buried at the site," the report says. Mariupol's resident Tatyana, who lost her son in the fighting, had been desperate to find him and this summer visited a mass burial site at Vinohrady, with over 800 fresh graves, near Mariupol looking for him. She took a photograph of the site at Vinohrady.

Many graves at the site are marked with small placards bearing numbers and gender but not names. "Most of the bodies are unidentified," Tatyana said. Others the BBC spoke to visited makeshift mortuaries in Mariupol to try to find their loved ones this summer. They had to look through scores of bodies lying outside on the ground, unrefrigerated. As reported by Ukrinform, according to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, tens of thousands of civilians have died in the Russian siege of Mariupol. Still, it will be possible to determine the exact number of victims only after the de-occupation of the city.