Ukrainian police say they have found the bodies of three civilians in the Bucha area north of Kyiv, linked, and in some cases to gags, to several gunshot wounds, which police say indicate that they were tortured.
Ukraine says more than 1,000 bodies have been found in or around Bucha, where it claims Russian troops have occupied the area for weeks in a failed attempt to seize the capital.
Russia denies the allegations.
In a video posted on YouTube, Kyiv Regional Police Chief Andrei Nebytov said that bullet wounds to the limbs of the men indicated that they had been tortured, adding: “Finally, each of the men was shot in the ear.”
The video also contained images that allegedly depicted a grave and bloodied bodies with blurred faces.
Russia’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to an electronic request for comment on Nebytov’s account.
Reuters was unable to verify the information he provided.
Nebytov said the men were found in shallow graves in the woods near the village of Mirotsky, near Russian military positions, blindfolded and handcuffed, and some with gags.
The men’s clothing showed they were civilians, he said, adding that their identities were unknown because their faces had been mutilated by torture.
Nebytov said that forensic laboratories examined in the Kiev region 1202 bodies of civilians, who were allegedly killed by the Russian occupiers.
Reuters was unable to verify the number of people found dead in Bucha and the circumstances of their deaths.
Russia denies war crimes charges and denies attacking civilians as part of what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize its neighbor.
He called the accusations that Russian forces shot dead civilians in Bucha a “terrible forgery” aimed at defaming the Russian army.
