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In Pictures

Gallery|Russia-Ukraine war

Photos: Ukraine exhumes dozens of bodies in two eastern towns

Authorities are investigating causes of death after Russian troops retreated from towns in the eastern Donetsk region.

mass grave in Lyman, Ukraine
Members of a forensic team carry a body bag as they work at an exhumation in a mass grave in Lyman, Donetsk region. [Francisco Seco/AP Photo]
Published On 12 Oct 202212 Oct 2022
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Ukrainian authorities have exhumed dozens of bodies, including a one-year-old baby, to determine the causes of death following the retreat of Russian troops from two recently-liberated towns in the eastern Donetsk region, according to officials.

“These are local civilians and our defenders, armed forces servicemen,” Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Tuesday at a cemetery in Lyman, which was retaken from Russian forces on October 1.

He added that 55 bodies had been exhumed and that preliminary results indicated that the deaths resulted from “explosive and projectile injuries, bullet injuries”.

Ukrainian authorities were cautious in saying whether any of the bodies exhumed Tuesday showed signs of having been executed or subjected to torture, emphasizing that the investigation was still in its early stages.

At a separate site on Tuesday, about 20km (15 miles) to the west in the town of Sviatohirsk, the prosecutor general’s office said law enforcement officers had exhumed 34 bodies, some of which it said showed signs of violence, including gunshot wounds, rib and skull fractures, as well as injuries caused by explosives.

“The burned bodies of two citizens were also found in a car,” it said in the statement. “Their identities are being established.”

Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly accused Russian troops of committing atrocities in occupied territories, a charge Moscow denies.

Last month the bodies of 436 people were exhumed from a burial site in the northeastern town of Izyum after it was liberated. Most appeared to have died violent deaths, local officials said.

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mass grave in Lyman, Ukraine
Forensics officials move the body of an army officer they exhumed from what Ukrainians said is a mass grave in the newly recaptured town of Lyman, Donetsk region. [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]
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mass grave in Lyman, Ukraine
Forensics exhume the body of one of 55 dead Ukrainian soldiers buried in a mass grave at a cemetery near Lyman. [Sergey Bobok/AFP]
mass grave in Lyman, Ukraine
The prosecutor general's office said authorities had counted 110 trenches containing graves, including some for children, at the Nova Maslyakivka cemetery in Lyman. [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]
mass grave in Lyman, Ukraine
Army officers walk past bodies exhumed from the mass grave in Lyman. [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]
mass grave in Lyman, Ukraine
Officials were cautious in saying whether any of the bodies exhumed Tuesday showed signs of having been executed or subjected to torture, emphasizing that the investigation was still in its early stages. [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]
mass grave in Lyman, Ukraine
Two burial sites were found after Ukrainian troops recaptured the town of Lyman, said Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. [Atef Safadi/EPA]
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mass grave in Lyman, Ukraine
Lyman was liberated by Ukrainian forces at the end of September as part of a rapid Ukrainian counteroffensive which recaptured swaths of the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson regions from Russian control. [Francisco Seco/AP Photo]
mass grave in Lyman, Ukraine
The destruction in Lyman, a key rail and transit hub, is so widespread that large portions of the city have been completely destroyed. Ukrainian authorities are now working to restore basic infrastructure and investigate how civilians lived and died during the Russian occupation. [Sofiia Bobok/Anadolu]


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