Human Rights Watch estimated the number of civilians killed during the fighting in Mariupol to be at least 8,000.
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 after the start of the war together with the Ukrainian human rights group Truth Hounds and with the participation of the architectural and forensic group SITU Research, which uses architectural modeling methods to reconstruct crime scenes (it had previously modeled the shooting sites in Buch and the shelling of the station in Kramatorsk in April 2022).
The 215-page report is based on the testimony of 240 people, mostly fleeing residents, as well as the analysis of dozens of satellite images and more than 850 photos and videos.
Among the findings of Human Rights Watch:
1. fighting in the city led to the death of at least 8 thousand people in the city. This is a conservative estimate. And it is based on the analysis of the expansion of five cemeteries in the city and near it. From March 2022 to February 2023, at least 10,000 people were buried in them (some graves could hold more than one person, moreover, not all those buried in improvised graves (in the yards of houses, for example) were later reburied during the siege, so this is the minimum score). According to HRW, the deaths of 8,000 of them are directly related to the war - either deaths during the shelling, or deaths caused by the lack of clean water and medical care in the months that followed.
It should be noted that Ukrainian sources cited much higher numbers of the dead. Mariupol City Hall spoke of more than 20,000 dead. And people's deputy Serhii Taruta - about 60 thousand. At the same time, it was emphasized that these are only preliminary estimates and it is impossible to determine the exact figures yet.
2. From the pre-war population of 540,000 people, by mid-May 2022, about 400,000 residents fled Mariupol.
3. The researchers analyzed in detail the locations of the most famous strikes, including the Drama Theater and the maternity ward at Hospital No. 3. In most cases, there were no signs of a Ukrainian military presence near them (as the Russian authorities often claimed), or this presence was so limited that that the Russian strikes were clearly disproportionate.
4. Human Rights Watch has singled out 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 Serhiy Shoigu, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and several lower-ranking generals. It is interesting that General Mykhailo Mizintsev, who was previously accused by the Ukrainian authorities of commanding operations in Mariupol, is not among them.
5. Two Chechen leaders - Ramzan Kadyrov and Adam Delimkhanov - and the head of the "DNR" Denys Pushylin are listed among the persons who are not part of the military vertical of command, but bear, as Human Rights Watch believes, command responsibility for war crimes in Mariupol.
