Europe 1 with AFP 5:53 p.m., September 23, 2022

The Ukrainian authorities have announced that they have exhumed 436 bodies from the graves of the city of Izioum, taken back from the Russians.

Among these bodies, most show signs of violent death and "thirty show signs of torture" according to the governor of Kharkiv Oleg Singoubov.

Moscow denies having committed these crimes.

Ukrainian authorities have exhumed 436 bodies that were buried in a forest near the city of Izium taken back from the Russians, and thirty of them showed "signs of torture", the governor of the Kharkiv region announced on Friday (north -is).

"A total of 436 bodies have been exhumed. Most show signs of violent death and 30 show signs of torture," Oleg Sinegoubov said on Telegram.

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Tied hands, broken limbs and gunshot wounds

"There are bodies with a rope around their necks, with their hands tied, with broken limbs or gunshot wounds. Several men have had their genitals amputated," continued Oleg Sinegoubov, citing "evidence of terrible torture". suffered by the population according to him.

Several hundred graves surmounted by a cross and a mass grave were discovered in mid-September near the town of Izium, which was under Russian occupation for several months before being taken over by Ukrainian forces.

Ukrainian police also claimed to have discovered "torture chambers" in the region, including in Izium.

Russian forces have been accused of multiple abuses in the territories under their control in Ukraine, in particular in Boutcha on the outskirts of kyiv, where the corpses of coldly slaughtered civilians were discovered after their withdrawal from the area at the end of March.

Moscow denies having committed these crimes and called the discovery of the graves in Izium a "lie".