Each makeshift wooden marker protruded from a mound of earth where a body had been buried. Some displayed the names of the dead, but the majority simply bore numbers because identity was unknown. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 1:14 “There is a smell of death in the air” Police investigators and forensics have begun the difficult process of exhuming the remains at this mass burial site on the edge of the recently liberated city of Izyum. They said it contained more than 440 men, women and children, all civilians, as well as a mass grave containing at least 17 Ukrainian soldiers. The discovery was only possible after Ukrainian forces pushed Russian troops out of Izyum last week, allowing police to enter. Dressed in blue, plastic overalls and armed with shovels, a team set out to dig up the dead. They took it in turns to work in one of the rows of shallow graves, carefully removing the sandy earth so that each body could be retrieved. The dead seemed to have been disposed of without even the dignity of a coffin. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 1:25 “Mass burial of 440 graves” The cause of each death will take time to establish, but officials have said they believe some of the victims were killed by Russian artillery and airstrikes during the last nearly seven months of the war. They said others were shot and killed. There is also a suspicion of torture. A senior prosecutor said the first body recovered had a rope around its neck and showed signs of a “violent death”. “I’ve been working in the prosecutor’s office for 20 years and this is the first time in my life I’ve seen something like this,” Oleksandr Filchakov said as he visited the crime scene in the forest, which is next to a real cemetery. Read more: Russia will do everything it can to end Ukraine war ‘as soon as possible’, Putin says Russian prisoners told they can be freed if they do six months’ service in Ukraine – leaked video appears to show Reporters also had access on Friday. Several bodies were visible, either being pulled from the earth or lying in bags. Serhii Bolvinov, the chief police investigator for the Kharkiv region, said local gravediggers had buried the bodies during the Russian occupation. Where a victim’s identity was not known, it was recorded in a book along with any specific details about the person, such as gender, he said. Researchers now have the record book, which lists all the people buried at the site. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 2:46 The city of Izyum is liberated but at a cost The lead researcher said the total number is now believed to be 445. In addition, at least 17 Ukrainian soldiers were buried in a single mass grave, also at the site, according to police. “This is terrible,” said Mr. Bolvinov, surveying the site of a mass burial of civilians. “It is very painful for us… This place only appeared because of the (Russian) attacker… I am lost for words.” Once off the ground, the bodies of the civilians were placed in black bags, while the soldiers were placed in white ones. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death. DNA samples will also be taken to enable researchers to check identities and find who is in the unmarked graves – a huge task. The attorney general said the work would be done as soon as possible, but stressed that it was a process that could not be rushed because of the need to be thorough and forensic. Asked if international prosecutors were also involved because of the sheer scale of the challenge, he said: “Of course, our international partners are helping us. “They’re dealing with our teams. They’re working on Izyum now.” The burial site was also a Russian military post, with holes dug into the earth to hold tanks and other weapons. There also appeared to be a fortified trench for the troops. Click to subscribe to Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts Across the road from the site was a row of houses. A resident who lived through the occupation said the locals had been barred from entering the forest area. Serhii Cherniak, 61, said that changed when Russian tanks and artillery moved further back – although still during the occupation. He said he ventured out to collect wood and saw the mass grave for Ukrainian soldiers. He condemned the local gravediggers. “They didn’t even cover them (the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers) with sacks,” he said. “They were just thrown in like dogs. It’s not even a grave, it was a ditch that the Russians had used to park one of their vehicles. They climbed up, threw them down and sprinkled (the sand).”
