FALSE: A mass grave with over 1,500 Soviet soldiers was destroyed in Lviv

Russian sources are spreading information that, allegedly on the order of the Lviv City Council, a mass grave with over 1,500 Soviet soldiers who died during World War II was destroyed at the Field of Honorary Burials of Ukrainian Heroes (formerly Mars Field).

However, this is false. The mass grave of Soviet soldiers was not destroyed. Specialists exhumed and reburied the remains of soldiers from World War II and the postwar period at another cemetery in Lviv.

Using reverse image search, we found that the photos allegedly illustrating the “destruction of mass graves at Mars Field” were taken in October 2023. At that time, specialists from the Memorial and Search Center “Dolya” began the second phase of research and exhumation of burials at the Lychakiv military cemetery. Workers were dismantling slabs and concrete coverings, for which heavy equipment was used, visible in the photos. As a result of this work, the remains of 479 people buried during the Soviet and postwar periods were discovered. Therefore, these photos had no relation to events in 2025.

The first phase of research at the Lychakiv cemetery was completed in August 2023, when the remains of 653 people were exhumed. Subsequently, three more phases of exhumation took place — in October 2023, February 2024, and the last one in spring 2025. In April 2025, specialists completed the reburial of remains at the Field of Honorary Burials of Ukrainian Heroes, the former Mars Field.

According to the Lviv City Council, during the research at Lychakiv cemetery, the remains of 1,804 people were found and reburied. However, not all of them belonged to the Soviet army soldiers. For example, 27 people were buried during World War I — their remains were moved to another section of the Lychakiv cemetery. Another 24 individuals were Wehrmacht soldiers — their remains were reburied at the German military cemetery in the village of Potelychi, Lviv region. Meanwhile, 1,753 people were buried during World War II and the postwar period — their remains were reburied at the Holoskiv cemetery. Therefore, the remains of Soviet soldiers were not destroyed, as propagandists claimed, but were reburied. Instead, a memorial square and a remembrance park for Ukrainian soldiers are planned at the Lychakiv cemetery.

Earlier, we also refuted a fake claiming that, allegedly on the orders of the authorities, a mass grave of Soviet soldiers was being desecrated in Boryslav, Lviv region.