Thousands of Mariupol civilian bodies discarded with rubble during Russian demolitions

Petro Andriushchenko, head of the Center for the Study of Occupation and former adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, reported that during the demolition of destroyed buildings in Mariupol, thousands of bodies of Ukrainian civilians were discarded as debris without exhumation, according to Espreso TV.

Mariupol, a strategic Ukrainian port city on the Sea of Azov, fell to Russian forces in 2022 after a devastating siege. The city’s strategic importance lies in its position as a key industrial center and its role in potentially creating a land bridge between Russia and annexed Crimea. The city’s infrastructure was largely destroyed during the siege, with estimates suggesting that up to 90% of residential buildings were damaged or destroyed.

“At this point, most of the killed residents have been buried. However, thousands of bodies were simply discarded along with rubble during demolitions, without any attempt at exhumation,” Andriushchenko reported.

He said that numerous graves still remain in the city, especially in private yards, where residents buried neighbors and relatives. Russian forces have not conducted systematic searches or exhumations in these areas.

“If individuals report the discovery of graves, the occupiers might conduct exhumations, but it’s rare, and the process is extremely slow,” he explained.

Andriushchenko noted that people returning to occupied territories often search for their loved ones’ burial sites to arrange reburials. Russian authorities maintain fragmented records for both unidentified bodies and those buried with documentation.

“The situation is pure chaos. The Russians have divided burial records into three locations—Mariupol, Mangush, and Novoazovsk—forcing people to travel between towns to morgues with unidentified remains. It’s a nightmare, deliberate cruelty, to make people endure this just to locate their loved ones,” he said.

He also pointed out that while casualty numbers are lower in newly occupied territories compared to Mariupol, the situation there remains equally grim.

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