Serhii Polvinov, chief inspector of the police of the Kharkiv region, told Sky News All the bodies will be exhumed and taken for forensic examination, which is seen as a massive police operation to gather evidence of war crimes committed by Russian forces.
Bolvinov said there was evidence that each body was buried separately, and that an investigation launched in Kharkiv had raised signs that there were other places where Russian forces buried people.
“I can say that this is one of the largest burial grounds of a liberated city, with more than 440 graves,” he continued.
However, the chief investigator has not yet said whether any cases of torture were found among the graves. “We know some have been killed [a tiro], others due to artillery fire, and still others due to bombing. We have also received information that many more bodies are yet to be identified. Therefore, the cause of death will be ascertained during the investigation,” he said.
The new discovery is reminiscent of the April 2 discovery of hundreds of dead bodies in streets and mass graves in Bucha, a suburb of Kiev. As with Izyum, the bodies were discovered after the Russian occupation of that city ended. Moscow has denied all the allegations.
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