Russian forces burying Kherson flood victims in unmarked mass graves: Kyiv
Kyiv, June 29 (EFE).- Russian occupying forces in the province of Kherson are burying the bodies of those who died in floods caused by a dam breach in unmarked mass graves, according to a report Ukrainian military.
On June 6, an explosion destroyed the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, flooding thousands of square kilometers of land and drowning villages.
“Due to the outbreak of viral diseases, the occupiers were forced to initiate measures to stabilize the sanitary and epidemiological situation in a number of settlements of the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson Oblast, which were affected by the explosion of the Kakhovka [Hydroelectric Power Plant],” said a military report published overnight by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Russians occupying the eastern bank of the Dnipro River – where the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was located – have engaged municipal workers to search for the dead among the rubble, it said.
“As a result of a search and recovery work, more than 60x bodies were found on June 24-25 of this year only,” the army added.
“The command of the Russian occupying forces made a decision to bury the dead in mass graves without taking DNA samples and placing any marks on the burial place.”
Kyiv government representatives have estimated the number of deaths caused by flooding in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson region at several hundred.
Ukrainian authorities and human rights organizations have accused Russia of abandoning the local population.
Kyiv accuses Moscow of blowing up power station and dam to hinder a possible advance by the Ukrainian army.
The explosion has caused a natural and humanitarian catastrophe in southern Ukraine. EFE
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