FILE - This combination of satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Staryi Krym cemetery in Mariupol AP measured each grid section where the cemetery had been expanded and calculated the total space occupied by new graves to be more than 51,500 square meters AP then reviewed drone and video footage that showed the Russians had used heavy machinery to dig long trenches which were then filled back in sometimes with wooden crosses bearing names and dates but mostly with hand-scrawled numbers on small placards A few graves were marked with more than one number potentially indicating more than one set of human remains Three forensic archaeologists experienced in mass graves war crimes investigations said the analysis was sound based on the limited information available and the lack of access to the graves cautioned that the number of graves doesn’t necessarily match the number of Ukrainians killed Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London He also covers other areas of geopolitics including China Brendan joined Newsweek in 2018 from the International Business Times and well as English You can get in touch with Brendan by emailing b.cole@newsweek.com or follow on him on his X account @brendanmarkcole either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content Videos circulating on social media showed the aftermath of reported blasts in Crimea on Wednesday that were played down by Moscow's appointed authorities amid a spate of strikes against Russian targets The pro-Ukrainian Eastern European news outlet Nexta shared a clip of beachgoers in the foreground with smoke rising on the horizon. "In occupied #Feodosia, something is smoking in the harbor," the outlet posted on X (formerly Twitter) The same video was shared by pro-Ukrainian user (((Tendar))) who wrote that the incident comes "only hours after another explosion in the north of the Russian-occupied peninsula of Crimea was reported near Dzhankoy," about 80 miles from the Crimean resort Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko also posted the video noting that residents of the town of Staryi Krym "Local authorities report that ammunition disposal at the firing range is taking place," he said independent Russian language outlet Politika Strani posted on Telegram an image of smoke rising from the bay in Sevastopol which it said took place the day after explosions around Kerch Bridge temporarily closed the link between the occupied peninsula and Russia Local news outlet Sevkor reported how locals had noticed the smell of burnt rubber "enveloping almost the entire South Bay and Lenin Street" in Sevastopol which is a key base for Russia's Black Sea Fleet said that the smoke was just a result of drills for chemical This fleet is conducting a training exercise," he said in a statement "Everything is calm in the city." Sevkor reported that its correspondent had confirmed Razvozhayev's explanation Similar reassurance was expressed about the smoke in Feodosia saying that it was due to "exercises carried out using a smoke screen." "Do not panic," he said in the statement to citizens reported by Kerch Today which also warned them not to fall victim to any "information attack" about its cause Ukraine has vowed to recapture the peninsula that Moscow has occupied since 2014, and Russian military targets in the region have been hit in recent months without Kyiv claiming direct responsibility Also on Wednesday, dozens were injured following a blast at the Zagorsk optical mechanical plant in the city of Sergiev Posad around 45 miles northeast of the Russian capital Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all , opens new tab"But then the war started For no reason at all."Russia sent thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb saying it had to counter a military threat and rid Ukraine of nationalists threatening Russian speakers - claims dismissed by Kyiv and Western countries as false pretexts for a land grab.Mariupol a once bustling port city on the Sea of Azov in southeastern Ukraine quickly became a Russian target After a siege that Ukraine says killed tens of thousands it has now succumbed to occupation and lies in ruins.Treading through long rows of fresh graves and makeshift wooden crosses Natalya said many of Mariupol's dead had no one left to honour their memory."Who will bury them "They have no family."Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Alex Richardson Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved That is according to the Telegram channel Krymskyi Veter explosions were reportedly heard in Armiansk According to social media reports: “Subscribers from Krasnoperekopsk and Krasnohvardiiske reported jet drones flying south… Several Russian fighter jets were airborne over Crimea flying in different directions searching for drones.” Later updates mentioned a possible strike at the Kirovske airfield there was an impact at the Kirovske airfield,” subscribers reported the occupying authorities blocked traffic across the Kerch Bridge overnight on April 24 Russian forces have been moving equipment across Crimea on a large scale — a process often described as chaotic and uncoordinated While citing and using any materials on the Internet links to the website ukrinform.net not lower than the first paragraph are mandatory citing the translated materials of foreign media outlets is possible only if there is a link to the website ukrinform.net and the website of a foreign media outlet Materials marked as "Advertisement" or with a disclaimer reading "The material has been posted in accordance with Part 3 of Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine "On Advertising" No 1996 and the Law of Ukraine "On the Media" No 2023 and on the basis of an agreement/invoice Online media entity; Media identifier - R40-01421 Local people in the town of Staryi Krym looked on as the invaders broke cemetery crosses and drove their tanks repeatedly over the tombstones public broadcaster Polish Radio's polskieradio24.pl website reported was utterly destroyed as a result of the vandalism A local newspaper denounced the destruction as “sacrilege,” polskieradio24.pl said Russian troops were stationed near the cemetery after they entered Staryi Krym between March 10 and 12 fierce fighting continued over nearby Mariupol Russia is laying siege to the coastal city as it seeks to establish a land link between Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and the Crimean Peninsula It cited Mariupol’s Mayor Vadym Boychenko as saying that half of the city remained under Ukrainian control while Russian forces and troops from the so-called “Donbas People’s Republic” have seized the remaining part “But the aggressors have great numerical advantage Mariupol is being subjected to “systematic shelling from sea and air” that is destroying “the city’s entire infrastructure,” the mayor added “But our boys are holding out,” Boychenko declared Tuesday is day 41 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine Source: polskieradio24.pl  Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Satellite images show expansion of Mariupol graveyard and destruction of city by RussiaProtective screen erected around theatre where hundreds killed by missile attack Satellite imagery of Mariupol appear to show the extension of a burial site in the southern Ukrainian city which was brutally beseiged and captured by Russia in the first months of Vladimir Putin’s war The Azov Sea port has been fully under Moscow’s control since May and photographs captured by Maxar Technologies provide some evidence of what Russia’s forces have done there since their occupation began Up to 95 per cent of the city’s buildings were destroyed in the onslaught according to Ukrainian premier Denis Shmyhal and the images taken this week appear to show that Russia is now demolishing dozens of high-rise apartment buildings damaged in its bombardment in March A large protective screen also seems to have been erected at the Mariupol theatre, where hundreds of people are feared to have died in a missile attack as civilians used the facility as an air raid shelter on 18 March – in what Amnesty International has alleged is a “clear war crime” by Russia satellite images taken on Wednesday are purported to show a newly-built Russian military compound – with the Russian army slogan daubed on the building’s roof Maxar said its new aerial images suggest a “significant expansion of the number of graves” compared with a photo of the same location from 29 March with previously bare earth appearing freshly dug The true scale of death in the city of 500,000 inhabitants remains unknown while it is still held by Russia, but Ukraine estimates that at least 25,000 civilians were killed – up to 7,000 of them dying under rubble after their homes were bombed Witnesses in Mariupol have told the broadcaster that Russian authorities have been removing bodies from the ruins of buildings in recent months and taking them away for burial Analysis of satellite images published by Maxar last month, carried out by the Centre for Information Resilience for BBC Panorama concluded that 1,500 new graves had been dug at Staryi Krym since June with a total of 4,600 since the war started in February Staryi Krim is one of three burial sites near Mariupol Hundreds of thousands of those who previously lived in Mariupol are thought to be among the 15 to 30 million people displaced by Mr Putin’s war while regional authorities in Donetsk have accused Moscow of forcibly deporting at least 50,000 of the city’s residents to Russian-held territory Some analysts suggest Russia’s vicious bombardment of Mariupol was partly motivated by the heavy presence of fighters from the Azov Regiment a Ukrainian group with strong neo-Nazi links – playing into Mr Putin’s overblown attempts to justify his war as one aimed at rooting out far-right elements in Ukraine the weeks-long assault on Azov fighters and civilians holed up in a final pocket of resistance underneath the Azovstal steel plant saw the controversial regiment – which insists it is a reformed organisation despite its origins in neo-Nazism – widely hailed as “heroes” in Ukraine After capturing the last fighters in Azovstal, the group was branded a terror organisation by Russia’s Supreme Court, paving the way for harsher treatment by Moscow. Since then, however, many of the fighters have been traded in prisoner swaps as Mr Putin fails to achieve his military aims the British Ministry of Defence claimed that Russia had started to construct defensive structures around Mariupol with two plants producing anti-tank structures known as “dragon’s teeth” for this purpose These have likely been installed between Mariupol and the villages of Staryi Krym and Nikolske and had also been sent for the preparation of defensive fortifications in occupied Zaporizhzhia and Kherson “This activity suggests Russia is making a significant effort to prepare defences in depth behind their current front line likely to forestall any rapid Ukrainian advances in the event of breakthroughs,” it added More aboutMariupolUkraineRussiaVladimir PutinJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies FILE - A Russian soldier guards the site of a new apartment building which is is being built with the support of the Russian Defense Ministry in territory under control of the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense FILE - A woman walks past a burning apartment building after shelling in Mariupol FILE - An explosion erupts from an apartment building at 110 Mytropolytska St. after a Russian army tank fired on it in Mariupol 2022 image from video shows the makeshift graves of two women who were killed at 110 Mytropolytska St in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol when a Russian tank opened fire on their building on March 11 Residents say the city was full of makeshift graves such as these with thousands killed during the Russian siege 2022 image from video shows fencing surrounding the Drama Theater in Mariupol Months after hundreds died in Russian airstrikes on the theater the fencing is etched with Russian and Ukrainian literary figures as well as an outline of the theater’s previous life FILE - Local actors rehearse Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s Vaudeville play on the stage of the Philharmonic in Mariupol 2022 image from video shows some of the new graves which have been dug since the Russian siege began at the Staryi Krym cemetery on the outskirts of the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol The Associated Press estimated at least 10,300 new graves in and around Mariupol — 8,500 in this cemetery — by analyzing satellite imagery from early March through December noting sections where the earth had been disturbed FILE - A Russian soldier inspects a corridor in the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol The remains of a statue and other rubble lie in front of the Azovstal steel mill which was the last place in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol to fall to Russian forces in late May 2022 A Russian master plan for the city envisions restoring the destroyed factory as an industrial park FILE - Workers build an apartment building for residents of Mariupol affected by hostilities FILE - Foreign journalists look inside a new unit in a new apartment block that is being built with the support of the Russia Defense Ministry in Mariupol FILE - A bus stops in front of an apartment building damaged during a heavy fighting in Mariupol FILE - A construction worker works on the site of the new municipal medical center in Mariupol with an Orthodox church in the background FILE - This combination of satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies shows damaged residential apartment buildings in the Livoberezhnyi district of Mariupol This photo provided by the family shows the coffins of two young cousins Their parents fled Mariupol soon after but returned to the occupied city in July to rebury the children now the site of thousands of new graves since the Russian invasion began Feb This pre-war photo provided by the family shows 5-year-old Artem Erashov were killed during Russian shelling on March 9 The families of the young cousins returned to occupied Mariupol to rebury their children in the Staryi Krym cemetery This photo provided by the family shows the graves of two young cousins This 2022 photo shows one of the at least 14 apartment buildings Russians have constructed in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol Residents say there’s a waitlist of more than 11,000 people for a new apartment Most of the city’s housing stock was hit by munitions during the siege of the city earlier in the year This photo provided by the family shows Ivan and Iryna Kalinin before the Feb Iryna and their unborn child were killed in a Russian airstrike on Mariupol’s maternity hospital Ivan returned to the occupied city to rebury his wife and baby Iryna Kalinin stands in front of a Christmas tree during her pregnancy She and her unborn first child were killed after a Russian airstrike hit a Mariupol maternity hospital while she was in labor on March 9 returned to the city to rebury his wife and their baby speaks about Mariupol’s transformation under Russian occupation He and many others from the occupied city have settled here has been transformed into a center for refugees from Mariupol A child from Mariupol plays at the library in Dnipro The library has been transformed into a center for refugees from Mariupol since the city’s capture by Russian forces in the spring Inna Nepomnyshaya looks at a photo of her apartment building at 110 Mytropolytska St as it was struck by Russian tank fire in March 11 where she has settled after fleeing her home The shell shattered the walls of Nepomnyshaya’s apartment and obliterated those of the neighbors above FILE - This combination of satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies shows a site before the construction of new Russian military facility in Mariupol FILE - This combination of satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies shows the destroyed Mariupol FILE - Damaged and burned buildings are seen from an open window of a new apartment block that is being built with support of the Russia Defense Ministry in Mariupol this pre-war photo provided by the family shows 5-year-old Artem Erashov Right: photo provided by the family shows the coffins of two young cousins Russian workers are tearing down bombed-out buildings at a rate of at least one a day hauling away shattered bodies with the debris Many of the city’s Ukrainian street names are reverting to Soviet ones with the Avenue of Peace that cuts through Mariupol to be labeled Lenin Avenue Even the large sign that announces the name of the city at its entrance has been Russified white and blue of the Russian flag and the Russian spelling But the AP investigation into life in occupied Mariupol also underlines what its residents already know all too well: No matter what the Russians do More than 10,000 new graves now scar Mariupol and the death toll might run three times higher than an early estimate of at least 25,000 The former Ukrainian city has also hollowed out with Russian plans to demolish well over 50,000 homes Associated Press journalists were the last international media in Mariupol to escape heavy shelling in March This is the story of what has happened since AP reconnected with many people whose tragedies were captured in photos and video during the deadliest days of the Russian siege Death surrounds Mariupol in the rapidly growing cemeteries on its outskirts and its stench lingered over the city into the autumn Lydya Erashova watched her 5-year-old son Artem and her 7-year-old niece Angelina die after a Russian shelling in March The family hastily buried the young cousins in a makeshift grave in a yard and fled Mariupol They returned in July to rebury the children only to learn while on the road that the bodies had already been dug up and taken to a warehouse Neither she nor her sister-in-law could bear to go inside the warehouse to identify the bodies of their children chose the tiny coffins – one pink and one blue – to be placed together in a single grave The AP investigation drew on interviews with 30 residents from Mariupol including 13 living under Russian occupation; satellite imagery; hundreds of videos gathered from inside the city and Russian documents showing a master plan they chronicle a comprehensive effort to suppress Mariupol’s collective history and memory as a Ukrainian city Mariupol was in the crosshairs of the Kremlin from the first day of the invasion Just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border the city is a port on the Sea of Azov and crucial for Russian supply lines The thoroughness of Russia’s destruction of Mariupol can still be seen today Videos taken across the city and satellite images show that munitions have left their mark on nearly every building across its 166 square kilometers (64 square miles) Large swaths of the city are devoid of color and life grey demolition dust and dead trees with shredded foliage But the worst destruction Mariupol suffered may be measured in its death toll a total at least 10,300 new graves are scattered around Mariupol confirmed by three forensic pathologists with expertise in mass graves Thousands more bodies likely never even made it to the graveyard the municipal government in exile estimated 25,000 people at a minimum had died But at least three people in the city since June say the number killed is triple that or more based on conversations with workers documenting body collection from the streets for the Russian occupation authorities Chebotareva returned home this autumn for just long enough to retrieve her belongings since residents are free to come and go so long as they pass checkpoints She said the Russians expect gratitude with their offer of a few new apartments “I don’t know how it’s possible now to give us ‘candies’ in exchange for destroyed homes and killed people,” she said in Kyiv This is how those who remained in Mariupol learn their buildings are scheduled for imminent demolition they are still living inside because they have nowhere else to go In a review of hundreds of photos and video clips along with documents from occupation authorities the AP found that more than 300 buildings in Mariupol have been or are about to be demolished but most are multistory apartment blocks in the khrushchyovka style launched by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in a housing crisis in the 1960s each building was designed to house as many families as possible the demolitions will remove well over 50,000 homes people aren’t prepared,” said an activist in Mariupol who like all inside Mariupol requested anonymity for fear of retribution according to another resident still in the city who works on the sites 110 Mytropolytska is one of the buildings on Russia’s demolition list The smell of fresh-baked bread still brings Inna Nepomnyshaya back to her last night in March in her sixth-floor apartment there When she saw the street price of bread in her besieged city The smell warmed the air the next morning when her son-in-law arrived Most of the neighbors were huddled in the basement couldn’t make the trip up and down the stairs Their bodies would be buried in the courtyard soon after AP video showed the rough graves still there Nepomnyshaya did not learn of the fate of her apartment until her family had escaped to Ukrainian-held territory she still speaks of the city in the present tense speaking by candlelight in a café in Dnipro Also on the demolition list are the buildings on either side One was hit by at least one airstrike on March 11; the walls of another are in ruins Russia is now moving into the historic city center Russian authorities in October dismantled Mariupol’s memorial to victims of the Holodomor the Soviet-engineered famine in the 1930s that killed millions of Ukrainians according to video posted on Russian television They also painted over two murals commemorating victims of Russia’s 2014 attack on Ukraine “They spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on things like erasing demonstrations of Ukrainian identity and very little time tending to the needs of the Mariupol people,” said Michael Carpenter ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe “It’s really a very brutal inhuman colonial experiment unfolding before our eyes.” As it tries to raze the remains of Ukraine Russia has laid out a plan for a new city with a new population At its heart will lie the historic Mariupol theater according to the master plan first reported by the Russian site The Village in August and seen by The Associated Press the theater itself fell victim to the demolition campaign according to video from the city seen by The Associated Press Also in the Russian documents are plans to restore the ruins of the obliterated Azovstal steel mill The site is slated to be transformed into an industrial park by the end of next year though there are no signs that any work has begun Russia already has constructed at least 14 new apartment buildings — a small fraction of the number coming down — and is repairing at least two of the hospitals it damaged by shelling Video obtained by The Associated Press showed rows of pallets stacked with insulation from the Danish company Rockwool which maintains its division in Russia despite criticism Construction materials are not subject to sanctions Rockwool’s Vice President of Communications Michael Zarin said the insulation panels were distributed without the company’s “knowledge or consent,” and that he hopes its products help restore health care Videos show no furniture visible in the windows of the new apartments and few people on the sidewalks outside the disabled and those affiliated with the occupation seem to be getting them according to multiple people still in Mariupol One man applied to the list in September and found himself in 11,700th place He has friends in the 2,000 range who are still waiting whose number was in the 9,000s has already moved into one of the new buildings the man said he has no issue with the demolition of buildings that aren’t fit to live in He is cautiously relaunching his own company in the new city But the plans for a Russian Mariupol depend on a population that simply no longer exists Videos seen by the AP showed military convoys The activist the AP spoke with also confirmed an increase in the number of soldiers since Russian forces retreated from the Kharkiv and Kherson regions Construction workers from Russia show no signs of leaving and tents were visible outside the Port City mall until the winter Doctors and city administrators also have come in from Russia according to Russian government announcements and physicians who left the city after refusing to work for the occupation authorities “There is no more Russian city now than Mariupol,” Dmitry Sablin said in an interview with Russian media in June after visiting the city The Kremlin is moving as swiftly as it can to ensure that those Ukrainians who stay see their future as Russians This suits many of those who remained behind just fine Mariupol has always had some residents who considered themselves Russian Russia’s occupation of Mariupol has divided families and friends into two categories: Those who stayed and those who fled Both grapple with what Mariupol once was and will be He last saw his wife that morning when her labor began and she sent him to fetch clothes and diapers He learned about the airstrike at a military blockade on the way to the hospital He and his father found her body the next day at another hospital “I do not even know how I survived it,” he said quietly “I was drinking every day to fall asleep.” I might return at some point — it is my hometown “I fall asleep every day hoping this is a dream And I wake up with understanding that it is a reality.” Mariupol is now torn between Russia and Ukraine Some people who stayed are waiting for Russian citizenship just to get on with their lives is appearing as graffiti around the city — a small act of defiance in a place many described as full of fear whose apartment was struck by a Russian shell dreamed recently that she’d returned home and smelled bread But she is not sure if she ever can or will go back that it will be Ukraine after all,” she said “But I know that this smell is just a memory.” Hinnant and Stepanenko reported from Dnipro Evgeniy Maloletka and Inna Varenytsia in Kyiv 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 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 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 Russia's aggression provoked one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes in Mariupol The city is practically destroyed by Russian shelling it is on the verge of environmental and infectious disaster 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." 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