Mariupol is now temporarily occupied and seized in the very first days of large-scale invasion of the russian federation of Ukraine. It is, in fact, erased from the face of the earth by the 500-kg and 1,000-kg bombs dropped by russian fascists as they targeted the residential neighborhoods and civilian objects. It became a symbol of fortitude of its defenders and a symbol of atrocities committed by the bastards wearing the military uniforms of the russian federation.
«The city has turned into a ghetto. There’s an everlasting feeling of surrealism. Civilization is turned inside out… In spite of the beautiful images of russian ‘neo-humanism’, they treat people like cattle, regardless of their pro-russian or pro-Ukrainian views… I don’t know who cancels the parades over there but the occupants get tready to host the parade in the downtown city», writes Petro Andryushchenko, the counselor of Mariupol mayor. «All of that is happening with the bombed out theater building with human casualties on the background; probably, there are still some bodies lying there», users of social networks report. «When they dismantled the debris of the drama theatre, they intercepted conversations and asked for a tractor with a carriage to remove the bodies. We hear the news from the city everyday, and there’s only grief in there. Rarely, we can hear some happy messages that people survived, called their close ones and left».
According to Mariupol city council, since March 1 alone, at least 1,582 peaceful citizens were killed over 12 days, in the blockade and the ruthless shelling of the city by russian occupant forces. Petro Andryushchenko adds that «by optimistic estimates, some 15,000 people deceased» in the city, but «by realistic estimates, the number is circa 25,000». During the first weeks of the occupation, the dead were buried in a 25-meter deep trench at the old graveyard in the downtown Mariupol. The bodies covered in carpets or plastic bags were taken to vans and delivered from streets, morgues and residential houses. The bodies were piled up like lumber.
Recently, a satellite took a photo of the 300-meter long mass grave of Mariupol residents in Mangush village that lies less than 20 kilometers away from the city that once was a home for half a million citizens. Mariupol city council claimed that the occupants set a mass burial site of those who perished under the artillery and aviation strikes. According to the images released by the media, the trench appeared in late March. There was none on the image that dates back to March 23, and yet, it is already there on the photo taken on March 29. The picture shows a 300-meter long hole and the vehicles that were used to dig them. The image taken on April 9 shows that the trench is partially covered with soil and widened. Petro Andryushchenko claims that the bodies of those who deceased in the streets of Mariupol are initially taken to the city’s industrial zones, then packed in body bags and then taken to the burial sites. «We have no clue how to count them. There should be thousands of them… But eventually, we found out where they are taking at least some of the deceased people from Mariupol», Andryushchenko says. According to him, it is currently known about one mass grave in Mangush but there could be more.
Another mass grave was found in the settlement of Staryi Krym. This is already third large burial site in the vicinities of Mariupol. A satellite spotted the trenches on the territory of the local cemetery. They appeared on March 24, after the settlement was seized by russian forces. The Planet satellite image confirms that the trenches are 60-70 meters long. Two weeks from that, on April 7, the image showed that the size of this burial site increased, and some of the trenches are covered. On April 24, more trenches appeared, and their length increased by more than 200 meters. «We are aware of these mass graves because these fascists – I can’t describe them any other way - force the locals to dig the trenches in exchange for food. These people told us that they had to work for certain amount of time to get some food and water… Currently, Mariupol does not have enough humanitarian aid that they deliver, so people are forced to do such things», says Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko.
117 bodies, including 30 ladies and two children (killed, tortured, shot dead, burned down, as well as patients of the local hospital who could not be buried in the graveyard as the occupants forbade to do so) were found in the mass grave in Bucha next to Andriy Pervozvannyi Church. One can only keep guessing how many more such graves there are in Mangush or Staryi Krym, in these trenches of more than 200 or 300 meters in length. The overall number of bodies found in Bucha makes 412; in the entire Kyiv region, the number exceeds 1,200. Bucha mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk says that the russian occupants «tied their victims’ hands behind their backs and shot them in the streets». «There are so many witnesses and survivors who point out that the local citizens were killed just for fun, when these people simply tried to get some bread or medicine – or just because they spoke Ukrainian, or just because they were volunteers», says Ruslan Kravchenko, the head of Bucha prosecutor’s office.
Burial sites of peaceful residents were also found in the settlement of Borodyanka in Kyiv region. Four men and two women were found in one grave. Two men and a fifteen-year-old girl found their rest in the other one. Andriy Nebytov, the police chief in Kyiv region insists that the bodies of these people had traces of torture on them. «Russian troops consciously shot civilians who did not resist or pose any threat to them», he said.
Photo: Yevhen MALOLETKA
