JAKARTA - Tamila Pehyda, a retired school teacher, burst into tears as gravediggers dug up her husband's body, with a forensic pathologist and then examined him to determine the cause of death.
As allegedly, Serhiy, who was 70 years old when he died in June in the village of Vysokopillia, southern Ukraine, was killed by shell fragments during heavy artillery firings as Ukraine attempted to retake territory from Russia.
The horrific process was governed by Ukrainian authorities gathering evidence about how people died and whether a potential war crime had been committed by Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.
They, and many of their relatives, want to hold Russia accountable for what has happened since the massive invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
"Of course, they have to take responsibility for everything, both morally and physically," Tamila told Reuters.
"How much sadness they bring here. For children, for grandchildren."
Like many Ukrainians from largely flat villages and cities in artillery exchanges and close combat, he fled Vysokopillia as much as possible. However, Serhiy decided to stay.
Tamila will bury her husband in a permanent grave. According to tradition, he put Serhiy's hat, glasses and comb in the coffin before his body was buried.
Likewise Tetiana Muzychko (58), deputy head of the local municipality who fled to Serhiy's house when he heard a loud explosion.
He said Serhiy was aware when he found him, but the injuries to his legs and lower body were so severe that he died.
"His injuries did not allow him to survive," he said while entertaining Tamila on a cold day without the sun.
"They (Russian troops) said: 'Why did you shoot us? We came to free you.' I asked them: 'Free us from what? From the fact that we live well, better than you?'" Muzychko explained.
He hopes Russia will be held accountable at the highest level for alleged violations during the war, including by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
"They have to be responsible for everything they have done," he said.
Meanwhile, Ruslan Gavrylov, head of the prosecutor's office in the nearby city of Beryslav, oversees excavations and examinations. Due to the obvious cause of death, he said an autopsy was not necessary.
He and others are investigating potential crimes, facing unusual and sometimes dangerous tasks when the conflict is raging.
Last week, prosecutor Oleg Palagniuk took pictures of the damage from a night rocket attack on a residential apartment block in Kherson City, as rocket salvo from across the Dnipro river thundered into the nearest neighborhood.
"He's equivalently wearing his helmet, but there's no place to hide and he keeps working."
Palagniuk's work has intensified since Russian troops withdrew from Kherson to the east bank of the Dnipro River last month. After withdrawing in one of the biggest war reversals so far, Russian troops have opened fire on Kherson.
"The investigative team arrived, recorded everything and immediately left the scene because there was a risk of repeated shootings," he told Reuters.
"After yesterday's shooting, half of the city again lacked electricity, water, and communication. It's very difficult. But we have to work."
Since the city was released, local prosecutors have recorded 1,500 alleged crimes in the city of Kherson, he added. That's too much for him and his team to be properly examined.
Various war crimes investigations are ongoing in Ukraine against suspected conflict perpetrators since Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Local judicial authorities are expected to forward cases involving high-level perpetrators, mass atrocities and humanitarian law violations that extend to the world's permanent war crime court, the ICC.
Which specific cases will eventually enter The Hague will be determined by the Ukrainian attorney general, Andriy Kostin, with the help of a team of international humanitarian law experts working with prosecutors such as Palagniuk.
Moscow has denied accusations of targeting civilians and rejecting accusations of war crimes. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people, both combatants and civilians, died in the fighting.
Russia accuses Ukrainian troops of committing their own violations.
So far, more than 50,000 international crime incidents have been reported by the Ukrainian Attorney General since Russia's massive invasion. Hundreds of cases of war crimes, genocide and crimes of aggression were pursued by Ukrainian authorities.
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