BUCHA, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukrainian authorities held a burial ceremony on Tuesday for 15 bodies found in Bucha four months after Russian forces withdrew from the area.
Deputy Mayor Mykhailyna Skoryk told reporters that 14 bodies could not be identified, adding most had gunshot wounds to the head and chest.
“All the people who were shot and exhumed from a mass grave have torture marks on them,” she said.
Ukraine and its allies accuse Russian forces of committing atrocities in Bucha, a satellite town of Kyiv, after launching its assault in February. Russia denied the charge.
Skoryk said each grave has a unique marker and if DNA samples allow a victim to be identified, a name plate can be mounted and relatives can rebury their loved ones.
(Writing by Yesim Dikmen; Production by Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey, Valentyn Ogirenko, Sergiy Volosyn, Andrii Pryimachenko; Editing by David Ljunggren and Richard Chang)
