Satellite images of an area near a village in Russia show a rapidly expanding cemetery where many of those killed fighting for the Wagner Group – a private Russian mercenary organization heavily involved in the war in Ukraine – are buried.
Pictures of rows of fresh graves near the village of Bakinskaya in the Krasnodar region began to emerge on social media in December. And on January 2, Russian State News Agency ATR Novosti showed Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin visiting the site and laying a wreath on one of the graves.
“Here we bring fighters who have indicated in their will that they want to be buried here,” explained Prigozhin, according to ATR. “Or orphans and those whose bodies, for some reason, relatives do not want to accept.”
Satellite images taken on November 24, 2022, show three rows of graves on a new plot. When Prigozhin visited in early January, he told RIA Novosti that 93 graves had been buried. Another Maxar satellite image taken on January 24 shows that the plot is already almost full, with 14 additional rows.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, the Bakinskaya cemetery seen in satellite pictures, as well as a nearby secondary site in the nearby town of Goryachy Klyuch, could contain as many as 1,000 dead Wagner soldiers.
Local activists reported that the mercenary group began using the Bakinskaya cemetery after it ran out of space at a Wagner-affiliated church in Goryachy Klyuch.
“The majority of Wagner Group personnel buried at these locations were reported to be prisoners, as a result of the Wagner Group’s excessive use of prison recruitment and its use of these personnel in costly attacks,” the ISW said. in his analysis on Friday.
“The high number of casualties will likely limit the Wagner Group’s ability to continue high-speed offensive operations and will likely prompt further prison recruitment efforts,” he said.
More on Wagner’s role in Ukraine: Wagner’s fighters are locked in a long, drawn-out battle with Ukrainian forces after taking over the town of Soledar while they attack Bakhmut and surrounding villages. Ukrainian officials say Wagner has sent waves of infantry toward their positions and suffered heavy losses in the process.
The high number of casualties earned the area the nickname “meat grinder,” and the rapidly expanding cemetery in Bakinskaya reflects the large death toll.
According to Wagner’s founder, Yevgeny Prighozin, only some of the group’s fighters are buried there.
The US Treasury Department on Thursday designated Wagner as a significant transnational criminal organization and imposed several sanctions on a transnational network that supports it.
