Ukraine War: Cambridge professor believes mum is in mass grave

Professor Andrei Kirilenko believes his mother lies in a mass grave in Mariupol

A professor at the University of Cambridge has said he fears his mother is in a mass grave in Ukraine.

Andrei Kirilenko's 85-year-old mother, Svetlana, lost her life in Mariupol but, a year on from the start of war, he has been unable to find out what happened to her.

Neighbours found her body on 11 March and placed her into a cold garage before they had to flee.

Months went by before Prof Kirilenko was able to get an update.

Andrei Kirilenko's 85-year-old mother, Svetlana, who died in Ukraine last year.

Mrs Kirilenko lived in the key port city, in the eastern Donbas region, which faced some of the heaviest Russian bombardment.

In their last conversation in early March Prof Kirilenko said he believed his mother knew she was saying goodbye for the last time.

Prof Kirilenko said this photo was taken of his mother the year she went to college in Kharkiv, in Ukraine

He later received a phone call from his homeland to say his mother had died and had been buried.

"It's dangerous for people in Ukraine to get in touch with anyone who doesn't have a Russian phone number but they managed to communicate that some of them managed to go back, burying my mum somewhere.

"There are satellite photos which show the city of Mariupol basically surrounded by fields of mass graves because hundreds of thousands of people died," he said.

"So somewhere in one of those graves is my mum."

The professor of finance at the Cambridge Judge Business School said seeing people queue for miles to see Queen Elizabeth II lying in state last year stirred emotions about the loss of his own mother.

He said: "In some way it was pageantry but in some way, a very human experience and I haven't gone through that, so the chapter hasn't finished for me," he said.

"That remains painful and not just for me. Mine is the story of millions of people."

Prof Kirilenko does not know where his mother is buried

On the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, Prof Kirilenko spoke of his fears that the war will continue to drag on.

"What we're seeing is that both sides are arming more, fighting more and more people are dying.

"[The Russian administration has] gone and recruited hundreds of thousands of their own citizens and sent some of them unprepared into battle," he said.

"It's a meatgrinder. I don't even know what it's for. These are old wealthy man. What do they win?

"They're not going to get any younger, or any more money out of this... in fact they're losing money, " he added.

"They are not going to get more glory out of this because everyone thinks of them as evil people."

Local residents walk past an apartment building destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

But, having spent years tackling financial crises for the International Monetary Fund, he is now collaborating with other Ukrainians - some working from bomb shelters - on a plan to help rebuild the country's economy when the conflict concludes.

"It's important because a lot of money will be needed to rebuild the country and it must be safeguarded and put to good use so it doesn't end up in the pockets of a handful of people who will enrich themselves off the collective pain and tragedy of this," he added.

Prof Kirilenko called for the economic strategy to be "designed by Ukrainians", adding: "It's your country. Your countrymen have died for it."

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