Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register BUCHA, Ukraine, April 8 (Reuters) – Medical examiners began exhuming a mass grave in Bhutan on Friday, wrapping it in black plastic and placing the bodies of civilians who officials say were killed as Russian troops occupied the city northwest of Kiev. Ruslan Kravchenko, from the prosecutor’s office in Bukha, said they had exhumed 20 bodies, 18 of which sustained gunshot wounds and shrapnel. He said two women were found, one of whom was working in a supermarket in the city center. “There are witnesses who can confirm that these people were killed by Russian forces. For no reason, they were just walking down the street or being evacuated,” he told Reuters. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “Some of them just spoke Ukrainian.” The Kremlin said on Tuesday that allegations that Russian forces had executed civilians in Bukhara were a “monstrous forgery” aimed at discrediting the Russian military. read more Kravchenko said medical examiners would work to create a picture of what happened to those buried in the grave, adding that the search for the deaths was “unprecedented” in scale. Specialists, dressed in white suits, covered the graves with plastic wrap as it rained. Since Russian troops withdrew from Bukha last week, Ukrainian officials say hundreds of civilians have been found dead. Bucha mayor says dozens of victims of extrajudicial killings by Russian troops Bucha Deputy Mayor Taras Shapravskyi said on Friday that more than 360 civilians had been killed and about 260-280 buried by other residents in the mass grave. He added that there were two parallel ditches dug in the area of the mass grave, with corpses stacked on top of each other in layers. Reuters could not independently verify this information. The civilian deaths in Bucha have been widely condemned by Western nations as war crimes. Reuters saw the remains of five victims in Bouha who were shot in the head. One had his hands tied behind his back. Another tied his legs. Reuters could not independently determine who was responsible. read more The Kremlin, which has denied that it deliberately targeted civilians after its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, considers the killing of civilians in Bucha to be a cynical ploy by Ukraine and its Western backers, which Moscow says have been met with bias. paranoia. Moscow calls its action a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarizing and “rewarding” Ukraine. Ukraine and the West say the invasion was illegal and unjustified. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Simon Gardner and Mari Saito Written by Elizabeth Piper Edited by Angus MacSwan and Frances Kerry Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
