The area of \u200b\u200bmass graves in the village of Stary Krym, temporarily captured by Russian troops, located near Mariupol, almost doubled from May 8 to June 29. This is evidenced by satellite images from Planet Labs published by Schemes journalists..

According to the Mariupol city council, more than 15 thousand dead residents can be buried in this place..

Moreover, in the picture taken on June 29 at the cemetery near Stary Krym, the equipment used by the occupiers to dig additional trenches for the burial of Mariupol residents is visible..

Adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Petr Andryushchenko, said in a commentary to Schemes that the Russians began to dismantle the rubble of destroyed and damaged multi-storey buildings in the city. This may be the reason for the increase in mass graves recorded by the satellite..

He explained that in each of the destroyed houses there could be up to 100 dead residents of Mariupol..

“They brought their so-called “Ministry of Emergency Situations”, and there, what is not a house is a burial ground. Yesterday (July 5, - ed.. ) they " Employees of the so-called " They turned around and left, saying, “it’s not our business,” because the “Ministry of Emergency Situations” refuse to deal with the bodies of the dead,” Andryushchenko said..

According to the adviser to the mayor, employees of the so-called "

“Usually they are taken to the cemetery of Stary Krym. Everyone who is taken out from under the rubble is simply thrown into a dug-out ditch in the cemetery,” he added..

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Andryushchenko noted that people are also buried in separate graves at the Starokrymsky cemetery. The occupying authorities are trying to make money in this way by offering private burial services outside the mass graves.

An increase in such burials can also be seen in the satellite image from June 29.

“The funeral will cost about 20 thousand hryvnia.. But even after payment, it will be necessary to wait about 2 weeks, because there are problems with timber in Mariupol now, so coffins are usually brought from the previously occupied territory of the Donetsk region,” the mayor’s adviser explained.

Earlier it was reported that the Russian invaders fully resumed the work of the Mariupol seaport and recruited people to clear the rubble on the territory of the MMK named after. Ilyich.