JRL NEWSWATCH: “Digging Up Old Graves to Make Room for Newly Fallen Soldiers” – New York Times

“Funerals have taken on a grim routine in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, and as the fighting grows more intense during the counteroffensive, gravediggers say they are bracing for more bodies.”

“… Fierce battles are playing out … in the … east and south …. A British defense intelligence report said … Sunday … both armies were suffering significant casualties … [M]ilitary experts have said … months of artillery duels and trench warfare most likely lie ahead. Like the Ukrainians, the Russians have been secretive about [casualties] …. Leaked Pentagon documents published in April estimated … Ukraine had suffered 124,500 to 131,000 casualties, with up to 17,500 killed in action, while Russians had 189,500 to 223,000 casualties, including up to 43,000 killed in action. …”

In one Lviv cemetery, almost 500 soldiers already have been buried, filling half of a hillside. In the top section of the cemetery, the city has started exhuming unmarked graves of soldiers dating back as far as World War I.

Meanwhile, for Russian casualties, one team of researchers inside and outside of Russia started using open-source information like local newspaper obituaries and cemetery visits to bolster efforts to count Russian war dead. In response, multiple Russian regions in Russia have banned obituaries attempting to camouflage the number of dead.

Click here for: “Digging Up Old Graves to Make Room for Newly Fallen Soldiers; Funerals have taken on a grim routine in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, and as the fighting grows more intense during the counteroffensive, gravediggers say they are bracing for more bodies.” – New York Times/ Megan Specia