Ukrainian authorities have so far found in Mariupol at least 16,000 civilian bodies in mass graves near the southern port city. Ukrainians quoted city authorities fears that the death toll may exceed 22,000 The media Mayor Vadim Boychenko.

It is said that the mass graves were arranged in such a way that the bodies were separated from each other only by an iron plate. The city council claims that the Russians want to give the impression that these are individual cemeteries.

It was said that thousands of bodies lay under the rubble of destroyed buildings. Crematoriums and local cemeteries were said to have been filled with war dead through the ages.

At the end of April, mass graves by the Russians were already discovered on satellite images. Mayor Boychenko already took these discoveries into account, “because the Russians want to cover up their war crimes in this way.”

The pre-war population of Mariupol was about 450,000. About 100,000 of them were unable to leave the city and fell victim to a months-long Russian siege. The coastal city was constantly bombed. The shortage of water, food and electricity also threatened other humanitarian disasters.

The United Nations said in a statement on Friday that at least 4,000 civilians had been killed across Ukraine. At the beginning of May, the number of civilian deaths was about three thousand. The United Nations recognizes that the actual death toll is several times higher. The organization says that verifying the fatal casualties is often difficult.