Ukraine combs mass burial site, says signs of torture found

Ukrainian authorities unearthed bodies, some they said bore hallmarks of torture, from a mass burial site Friday in an area recently recaptured from Russian forces. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cited the site as an example of “what the Russian occupation has led to.”

Digging in the rain, workers hauled body after body out of the sandy soil in a pine forest near Izium that police said contained 445 graves. Protected by full body suits and rubber gloves, they gently felt through the decomposing remains of their clothing, seemingly looking for things that might identify them.

Ukrainian forces got access to the site after recapturing the northeastern city and much of the wider Kharkiv region in a counteroffensive that suddenly shifted the momentum in the nearly seven-month war.

Some of the bodies had their hands tied behind their backs and ropes around their necks, said the region’s chief prosecutor, Oleksandr Filchakov. Ukrainian officials said they also found evidence of torture elsewhere in the region.