The human rights organization Human Rights Watch estimated the number of people killed in Mariupol in at least 8,000 people in Mariupol.
Human Rights Watch published the results of a major investigation into the consequences of the siege and storming of Mariupol by Russian troops in the first months of the war.
The investigation was conducted almost two years from the beginning of the war together with the Ukrainian human rights group of Truth Hunds and with the participation of the Situ Research architectural and criminalist group, which uses the methods of architectural modeling to reconstruct the crime sites (it has previously modeled in the case of a 202-year.
The 215-page report is based on 240 persons, mainly wreckage residents, as well as analysis of dozens of satellite images and more than 850 photos and videos.
Among the conclusions of Human Rights Watch:
1. The fighting in the city led to the death of at least 8,000 people in the city. This is a conservative assessment. And it is based on the analysis of the expansion of five cemeteries in and next to the city. From March 2022 to February 2023, at least 10,000 people were buried in them (some graves could hide more than one person, and not all buried in natural graves (in the yards of houses, for example) during the siege later, it was a minimal grade). According to HRW, the death of 8,000 of them is directly related to the war - either death during shelling, or death is caused by the lack of clean water and medical care in the coming months.
It should be noted that Ukrainian sources were called much larger figures of the dead. The Mariupol City Hall spoke of more than 20,000 dead. And the People's Deputy Sergey Taruta - about 60 thousand. It was emphasized that this is only preliminary estimates and accurate figures it is impossible to determine yet.
2. From the pre -war population of 540 thousand people by mid -May 2022, about 400,000 inhabitants fled from Mariupol.
3. The researchers analyzed the places of the most famous blows, in particular on the Drama Theater and the maternity hospital at hospital # 3. In most cases, no signs of Ukrainian military presence were found next to them (as the Russian authorities often claim), or this presence was so limited that Russian strikes were clearly disproportionate.
4. The Human Rights Watch distinguished the 17 Russian and pro -Russian formations operating in Mariupol and their commanders, and lists Russian officials who bear command responsibility for their actions. The list is headed by President Vladimir Putin, followed by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigh, General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov and several other lower -rank generals. It is interesting that General Mikhail Mizintsev, whom the Ukrainian authorities had previously accused of commanding operations in Mariupol, are not available.
5. Among people who are not in the military vertical of the command, but, according to Human Rights Watch, command responsibility for war crimes in Mariupol, lists two Chechen leaders - Ramzana Kadyrov and Adam Delimmanov - and Denis Pushilina.
