The United Nations Investigative Agency Will Demolish Mass In Izium, Ukraine

JAKARTA - The UN-managed investigative body plans to investigate a mass grave site near Izium, Eastern Ukraine, its head said on Friday.

"This is of course a new incident, but we certainly intend to see the Izium incident too," said Erik Mose, who heads the Ukrainian Investigation Commission, at a news conference.

Asked about whether crimes against humanity have been committed, Mose said the commission had not yet reached that conclusion, citing a lack of evidence and analysis.

As previously reported, a mass grave was again discovered in the Ukrainian territory left by Russian forces, with the latest covering about 440 graves, according to a high-ranking police officer.

The mass conspiracy is said to have been found in the east of Izyum City. Serhii Bolvinov, police chief investigator for the Kharkiv region, quoted Sky News as saying.

Ukrainian forensic experts have so far excavated 146 bodies buried without coffins, regional governor Kharkiv said by Synehubov.

"Some bodies have cruel signs of death. There were bodies with bound hands and used torture marks. The bodies were also found to have explosive wounds, bullet fragments and stabs," he wrote on Telegram.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said about 450 graves had been found on the site.

According to preliminary examinations, four people showed signs of torture, with their hands tied behind their backs, or in one case tied with a rope around their necks, Serhiy Bolvinov said.

Bolvinov explained that most of the bodies appeared to be civilians. Locals have identified their bodies by matching names with numbers on thin wooden crosses that mark graves.

"The hands of the soldiers are tied up, there are signs of torture of civilians," said Bolvinov. Ukraine says 17 soldiers were in mass graves at the site.

Ukraine's authorities continue to evaluate and examine what has occurred in Russian-occupied areas for months, before recent weeks of counter-attacks hit and chased them away.

Separately, the Kremlin denies Russia is to blame for the atrocities Ukraine says are found in the territory it has reclaimed.

"That's a lie, and of course we will defend the truth in this story," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov argued, comparing the allegations to previous incidents in the war in which Russia claimed without evidence of atrocities committed by Ukraine.