New mass graves discovered in Mariupol, there may be more than 22,000 dead

That’s according to Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko, Mariupol City Council reports on Telegram.

"We estimated the death toll at 22,000 people in Mariupol. But more and more facts show that the consequences of the Ruscist crime are much worse. This and the dire state of the local population under occupation need special attention of the global community," the mayor stressed.

It is noted that 25 new trench areas have appeared at the Staryi Krym Cemetery over the past month. The bodies are placed in several layers and then "masked" with plates as individual burials.

In total,  the City Council said that the invaders have buried at least 16,000 Mariupol residents in mass graves near the villages of Staryi Krym, Manhush and Vynohradne since mid-April.

Another 5,000 people were buried by municipal service by mid-March. Thousands of bodies still remain under the rubble, in natural cemeteries and in temporary mortuaries.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, journalists used satellite images to locate mass burials of Mariupol residents near the village of Manhush, in the cemetery in the village of Vynohradne and in the cemetery in the village of Staryi Krym.

The satellite also recorded the fourth mass grave near the Central Cemetery in Mariupol, which was reported by local authorities. It appeared in early March.

Russia's aggression provoked one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes in Mariupol. The city is practically destroyed by Russian shelling, without normal energy, water and gas supply, it is on the verge of environmental and infectious disaster.

Today, more than 100,000 civilians remain in captured Mariupol. The Russian invaders declared collaborator Konstantin Ivashchenko the "mayor" of Mariupol and created an image of a "city life going back to normal."

Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka