Ukraine discovers mass grave in Kherson
Lviv, Ukraine, Dec 22 (EFE).- Ukrainian authorities Thursday unveiled the grim discovery of several burial sites and a mass grave in Pravdyno, in the southeastern region of Kherson with bodies that show signs of torture allegedly committed during the occupation of the area by Russian forces.
Deputy interior minister Yedyni Novyny said that the remains of six people had been found in the garden of a private home and 36 other graves were found in the cemetery, as well as a mass grave containing the bodies of Ukrainian army servicemen.
The interior ministry added on its website that “in total, during the period of occupation, the morgues received about 700 bodies, of which about 100 had physical injuries characteristic of military operations, the identities of 12 of them have not been established so far.”
The deputy minister said that efforts were being made to collect DNA samples from relatives to identify the victims.
He stated that the Russian soldiers occupying Kherson “frequently committed violence against civilians, boasting, sending photos and videos to their relatives in Russia, posting them on social media” and said that “in the future it will be a tool in the gathering of evidence of war crimes committed by them.”
Novyny also provided data on the exhumation of more than 450 bodies in Kharkiv region and indicated that “signs of torture were found in at least 40 people”, adding that forensic examinations of the corpses found in that area have been ordered to determine the causes of death. EFE
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