[Peace-discuss] RT: "no evidence of mass graves near Mariupol despite Western media reports and Kiev's own claims that up to 9 thousand people could be buried there"

[J.B. Nicholson]

Mariupol mayor claimed that 3,000 to 9,000 bodies are buried in mass graves at a 
grave site in Mangush near Mariupol in 30 meter x 45 meter trenches. This claim was 
based on satellite imagery supplied by Maxar Technologies, an American satellite 
firm, and the claim was repeated in establishment outlets:

New mass grave points to war crimes in Mariupol, Ukrainian officials say
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/21/new-mass-grave-manhush-near-mariupol/ 
begins:
> New satellite images show a mass grave in the Russian-occupied village of Manhush,
> located about 12 miles west of Mariupol, a discovery that Ukrainian officials say
> is evidence of war crimes against civilians in the strategic port city.
> 
> The images, provided Thursday to The Washington Post by Maxar Technologies, show
> several rows of graves in four distinct sections, each measuring nearly 280 feet.
> The company’s review of the images indicates that the new graves appeared between
> March 23 and March 26 and that there are now more than 200 burial plots alongside
> an existing cemetery.
> 
> The Mariupol City Council said in a statement on Telegram that officials believe
> up to 9,000 civilians could be buried in the mass grave, where authorities said
> Russians forces “dug new trenches and filled them with corpses every day
> throughout April.” The council added that it has information indicating the bodies
> were “buried in several layers.” There was no immediate independent verification
> available of those claims.




Ukraine says mass graves in Mariupol were 20 times bigger than Bucha burial site; 
Biden to send more weapons and aid to Ukraine
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/21/russia-ukraine-live-updates.html begins:
> Mariupol officials say satellite images captured by Maxar show mass graves 20
> times bigger than a cemetery discovered in the city of Bucha this month. In a
> statement on Telegram, officials said the site in the village of Mangush could
> hold 3,000 to 9,000 — and that 70 bodies were found so far, according to NBC
> translation.



Russian forces accused of secret burials of Mariupol civilians in mass graves
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/21/russian-forces-accused-of-secret-burials-of-civilians-in-mariupol 
begins:
> Russia has been hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by
> burying the bodies of civilians killed by shelling in a new mass grave, the city’s
> mayor said on Thursday, as a US satellite imagery company released photos that
> appeared to match the site.
> 
> The mayor, Vadym Boichenko, said Russian trucks had collected corpses from the
> streets of the port city and had transported them to the nearby village of
> Manhush. They were then secretly thrown into a mass grave in a field next to the
> settlement’s old cemetery, he said.
> 
> “The invaders are concealing evidence of their crimes. The cemetery is located
> near a petrol station to the left side of a circular road. The Russians have dug
> huge trenches, 30 metres wide. They chuck people in,” he said.
> 
> Later on Thursday, the US company Maxar Technologies released images of what
> appeared to be a mass grave in the same area. The site had been expanded in recent
> weeks to contain more than 200 new graves, Maxar said. A satellite image from 19
> March of a cemetery on the north-western edge of Manhush and A satellite image
> from 3 April of what appears to be the mass grave site adjacent to the cemetery.
> The graves are aligned in four sections of linear rows (measuring approximately 85
> metres per section).
> 
> The mayor estimated that more than 20,000 Mariupol residents had been killed since
> Russian forces began attacking the city during the early days of Vladimir Putin’s
> invasion. Most bodies had now been removed, he said, with some disposed of in
> mobile crematoriums.





Satellite images said to show mass grave near Mariupol
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/21/satellite-images-show-mass-grave-near-mariupol-maxar-says 
begins:
> Satellite imagery from near the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol shows a
> mass grave site that has expanded in recent weeks to contain more than 200 new
> graves, a private US company has said.
> 
> Maxar Technologies, which collects and publishes satellite imagery of Ukraine,
> said on Thursday that a review of images from mid-March through to mid-April
> indicates that expansion of the mass grave began between March 23 and 26.
> 
> The site lies adjacent to an existing cemetery in the village of Manhush, 20km (12
> miles) west of Mariupol, the company said.
> 
> Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boychenko, said in a Telegram post that as many as 9,000
> civilians could be buried in the mass grave.
> 
> “The greatest war crime of the 21st century has been committed in Mariupol,” he
> said.
> 
> “This is the new Babi Yar,” the mayor said, referring to the site of multiple Nazi
> massacres of Ukrainian Jews in 1941.
> 
> “Then Hitler killed Jews, Roma and Slavs. And now Putin is destroying Ukrainians.
> He has already killed tens of thousands of civilians in Mariupol,” he said.
> 
> “This requires a strong reaction from the entire world. We need to stop the
> genocide by any means possible.”
> 
> In a separate statement earlier on Thursday, Boychenko alleged the Russians had
> dug huge trenches near the village of Manhush and were “hiding their war crimes”
> by dumping bodies there.
> 
> On Thursday evening, Ukrainian media published the satellite photos of Manhush,
> showing what they said were mass graves similar to – although much larger in size
> from – those discovered in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. The accuracy of these claims
> and images could not be immediately verified.




None of the above reports were written by reporters who visited the site to verify 
the claims that they published.



RT reporters did visit the site and found "no evidence of mass graves near Mariupol 
despite Western media reports and Kiev's own claims that up to 9 thousand people 
could be buried there.". RT's video report:
https://rumble.com/v126kw6-no-evidence-of-mass-graves-found-at-site-of-alleged-second-bucha.html 
says:

- The graves are individual graves, not mass graves,
- Each grave has a name identifying the body or a number where identification wasn't 
possible.
- The graves number 300, not the thousands claimed.
- Vadym Boichenko was referred to as "the runaway mayor" throughout the piece.
- Two grave diggers were interviewed about their work:
Man 1: "Of course, this place would be closed. This is all intended for people. Human 
beings are buried. These are not mass graves and they don't dump them into a common 
grave here. A coffin and a grave are intended for every person. Even if he is a 
soldier of the Ukrainian army or a civilian, this is a human being."
Man 2: "This is nonsense and fakes. There is one grave for one person here. There are 
even graves for soldiers of the Ukrainian army. Coffins for everyone. If he is 
identified, he has a grave and a sign. And if not, he has a number so he can be found."
Man 1: "I want to tell Boichenko, my former mayor, I want to say hello to him. I want 
to ask him why he didn't take out civilians. At least women and children who died 
there. But he himself left. [hard to discern: Who] worries about this city, for these 
people? A big hello to you."
- No one denies that people have died in the city of Mariupol, but these graves are 
not mass graves.
- Eva Bartlett is also interviewed about the implications given by the Guardian's 
report based on claims which "are never substantiated. These claims are made by 
people who are not on-location, and in small print you will say, 'we were told' or 
'we were led to believe' but there's never any concrete evidence behind because they 
don't need it. All they need is hefty propaganda, emotional scenes, and it's very 
persuading to the public."