Graves of Wagner PMC fighters found near Lugansk. Relatives of some of the dead did not know about their deaths

At a cemetery near Lugansk, local residents have discovered 42 fresh graves in which Wagner PMC fighters may be buried, the BBC Russian Service reports.

Initially, local residents themselves began distributing photographs of the graves in order to find relatives of the deceased: "We thought that maybe these people were lying here, and their relatives didn't even know about it. So we took photographs of all the graves and started distributing them to groups searching for missing persons," one of the women who discovered the burial told journalists. She also added that nine people had already contacted her, believing that their relatives might be in the graves. "None of them even knew that their loved ones had died. They were looking for them, waiting for news," the woman added.

In turn, journalists managed to find information in open sources about 37 men whose data match the inscriptions on the gravestones, including 20 court sentences issued against people who are full namesakes of those buried near Luhansk. Journalists also found the pages of these people on social networks and were able to talk to relatives of three of them.

In all three cases, journalists were told similar stories: their relatives were prisoners who agreed to go and fight as part of the Wagner PMC. They left the colonies at the end of August and stopped communicating in October. Since then, neither the Wagner PMC nor representatives of other paramilitary structures have contacted the relatives of the deceased.

"It kills me that no one told us, and there is still silence. My child was buried on someone else's land, and it is scary. I want my son to be near. If they won't bring him back alive, let them at least bring his body," said the mother of one of the prisoners.

• In Russia, there is at least one cemetery known where Wagner PMC fighters are buried, and the information about which was confirmed by the founder of the PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin. This cemetery is located in the village of Bakinskaya in the Krasnodar Territory. In December 2022, 47 graves of convicts were discovered there, and by the end of January there were already 270 of them.
• According to the BBC Russian Service, another cemetery where Wagner PMC fighters may be buried was discovered in early February 2023. It was found by residents of the Moscow region village of Fryanovo. On each of the 22 graves lay red-black-yellow wreaths, like in the village of Bakinskaya.