As I’ve noted here already, Viktoria’s sister Inna was killed during the shelling of Mariupol. That happened at the end of March, though it wasn’t know definitely until the end of July. With no family around to identify the body — and with the potential identification she did have stolen and sold by her “boyfriend” — it was largely assumed that she was buried in one of the many mass graves that had appeared in and around Mariupol and the surrounding towns.

It seemed like that was going to be about as much as we could know until such time as Ukraine regained control of the region and began unpacking the devastation and cover-up that Russia and their proxies had inflicted on the city and its population. But Baba Katya apparently didn’t feel like waiting for some ephemeral time in the future for that to happen, and she has been working to all the information she possibly could now. It seems to have paid off, in that we have more details.

I don’t know everything she did or how she managed to find things out, but Katya has learned that Inna’s body was buried in one of the mass graves in Manhush (Mangush, in Russian), a small town about 8 miles from Mariupol. The town was in the news during the earlier parts of the war, as a likely dumping ground for the casualties from Mariupol (New mass grave points to war crimes in Mariupol, Ukrainian officials say – The Washington Post). Katya was able to get the marker number to the grave, and a little over a week ago, went over and found the specific spot. (She took a picture, but I don’t have it, and probably wouldn’t post it here anyway.)

Obviously, none of this is great news. We’re dealing in degrees of badness, where ‘knowing’ is somewhat better than ‘not knowing.’ It set of a new wave of grieving in our household, but it has also given Viktoria a reason for returning to Mariupol — when it’s safe. It’s her goal to exhume Inna’s body from where it now lies and give it a proper burial in Mariupol with other members of her family. We don’t know when that will be, but at least we have the information so it can happen.

I’m sure this knowledge is small comfort, but in the midst of this great tragedy, any comfort is better than none at all.

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Oh, something I neglected to mention. According to “official documentation,” Inna wasn’t killed by Russian aggression. No, nothing like that. Heart issue. Not random shelling of people’s houses and homes. A bad ticker.

Utter bullshit. It’s just an example of the petty meanness of the Russian and DNR regime. It’s not their fault that they attacked Ukraine. Nazis! Had to fight the Nazis! It’s not their fault that this woman died, surrounded in rubble caused by their artillery. She had a bad heart. Just her time.

This is why my posts sometimes seem angry. It’s this petty, BS vindictiveness that grinds my gears.