Khthon documents mass graves, atrocity crimes, and forensic evidence from conflict zones worldwide. Our work is strictly humanitarian and apolitical.
This site may contain imagery and descriptions of deceased individuals, violent injuries, and human remains gathered in the course of active investigations. Content is presented for accountability and documentation purposes only.
Khthon documents mass graves, atrocity crimes, and forensic evidence from conflict zones worldwide. Our work is strictly humanitarian and apolitical.
This site may contain imagery and descriptions of deceased individuals, violent injuries, and human remains gathered in the course of active investigations.
Country / Region Overview
Ukraine represents the most current and visible landscape of Russian-linked mass graves. Since the full-scale invasion of February 2022, investigators have uncovered large burial sites in every town retaken from Russian occupation.
Russian troops have been implicated in systemic atrocities — killings, torture, rape, and disappearances — often followed by organized concealment of bodies. In Afghanistan during the 1980s, numerous graves of Soviet victims and civilians have been uncovered; however, many were exhumed without archaeological care and critical forensic information was lost. In Chechnya during the 1990s and 2000s, exhumations by NGOs such as Victims of War revealed close to a thousand individuals across at least 80 sites. The best documented is Dachny, a dumping ground near Khalkala airfield outside Grozny, where bodies from torture and detention centers were disposed of in bulk.
"Ukraine demonstrates how mass graves are not incidental byproducts of Russian warfare but integral to its conduct — predictable, mappable, and traceable across conflicts from Chechnya to the present."
— Khthon Field Assessment
In Bucha, rows of bodies were photographed in a churchyard trench before exhumation. In Izium, more than 440 bodies were recovered from a wooded site adjacent to road access points. In Mariupol, very large trenches appeared on high-resolution imagery outside the city during the spring 2022 siege — later confirmed as mass graves at Manhush. Wagner Group formations, implicated in killings around Bakhmut, disposed of bodies with heavy machinery in a pattern Khthon recognises from Syria and Chechnya.
For Khthon, Ukraine is a test case in recognising Russia's burial signature. Open-source imagery from Planet and Maxar has been critical in tracking these sites in near real time, with temporal analysis showing when new trenches were cut and expanded. The same markers seen in Chechnya appear here: graves consistently linked to detention or execution sites, placed close to accessible roads, dug with mechanical equipment leaving sharp orthogonal lines and excavator bucket marks.
2014
Annexation of Crimea and Donbas conflict begins
Russia annexes Crimea in March 2014 and backs the separatist takeover of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Armed conflict begins in the Donbas. Early atrocities — including the downing of MH17, killing 298 civilians — are documented by international investigators. Mass graves from this period are identified in Donetsk and Luhansk, attributed to both Russian-backed separatists and, in some cases, Ukrainian forces.
February 2022
Full-scale invasion — atrocities begin immediately
Russia launches a full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, advancing on Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, and southern Ukraine. Russian forces occupy Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, and dozens of surrounding towns in Kyiv Oblast for approximately five weeks. During the occupation, systematic killings of civilians, torture, rape, and forced disappearances are carried out. The pattern mirrors Chechen operations: detention sites adjacent to burial areas.
April 2022
Bucha — civilian massacre confirmed
Following Russian withdrawal from Kyiv Oblast in late March, Ukrainian forces and journalists enter Bucha on April 1–2. Bodies are found on streets, in yards, and in a churchyard trench containing multiple civilians. 458 bodies are ultimately recovered from the town and surrounding area, many showing signs of execution — bound hands, single gunshot wounds, evidence of torture. Maxar satellite imagery retroactively confirms the bodies were present during Russian occupation, directly contradicting Russian denials.
April–May 2022
Mariupol siege — Manhush mass graves confirmed by satellite
Russian forces besiege Mariupol for nearly three months. Planet Labs and Maxar imagery reveals large trench excavations at the village of Manhush, 20km west of the city, during the siege. Estimated to contain hundreds of bodies, the site is one of the largest confirmed Russian mass graves in Ukraine. Access remains restricted under Russian occupation. Khthon time-series analysis confirms mechanized excavation consistent with the Russian burial signature.
September 2022
Izium liberated — 440+ bodies in forest burial site
Ukrainian forces retake Izium in Kharkiv Oblast on September 10, 2022. Within days, a burial site is discovered in a forest outside the city containing over 440 graves. Many show evidence of violent death, torture, and execution. The site follows the established Russian pattern: wooded terrain adjacent to roads, near former Russian command positions. International forensic teams begin systematic exhumation. Evidence of filtration camp operations in Izium is also documented.
2022–2023
Kherson, Zaporizhzhia — liberation reveals new sites
As Ukrainian forces retake Kherson in November 2022 and push into other occupied territories, additional mass grave sites are discovered. Kherson Oblast yields multiple sites near former Russian detention facilities. Torture chambers are documented in basements and public buildings. Each liberated area reveals the same pattern: detention infrastructure paired with proximate burial sites, consistent with the Russian atrocity model Khthon has mapped across conflicts.
2023
Bakhmut — Wagner Group burial patterns
Wagner Group forces capture Bakhmut in May 2023 after months of grinding urban combat. Reports and open-source imagery indicate mass disposal of bodies with heavy machinery around Bakhmut during Wagner operations. Former Wagner personnel and satellite imagery analysts document burial sites consistent with Wagner's pattern in Syria — rapid, mechanized, near active front lines. Wagner's dissolution following Prigozhin's mutiny in June 2023 complicates accountability but does not erase the forensic record.
Ongoing
Khthon — real-time GEOINT monitoring
Ukraine is Khthon's most active real-time monitoring environment. Planet and Maxar time-series imagery is reviewed continuously across occupied territories for signs of new trench activity, vehicle access patterns, and soil disturbance consistent with burial. Khthon cross-references findings against Ukrainian government documentation, OSINT investigators, and field accounts. Ukraine confirms the Russian burial signature is systemic — not incidental — and directly applicable to future Khthon assessments in any theater where Russian forces operate.
Browse Khthon's full catalogue of country and case reports across seven global regions, or get involved with our ongoing investigations.