Mass grave discovered in eastern Ukraine

An excavator exhumes graves by portraits of four missing residents of Slovyansk
An excavator exhumes graves by portraits of four missing residents of Slovyansk
MARION THIBAULT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Ukrainian government forces yesterday exhumed what they claimed were the bodies of people killed by pro-Russian separatists around the town of Slovyansk.

Four of the bodies are thought to be men who were last seen being led away by armed men on June 8 from a Protestant church where all were parishioners. They were among 20 bodies in the grave.

The others were believed to be those of separatist fighters killed defending Slovyansk, a rebel stronghold, from government forces. Officials said the four corpses indicated that they had been tortured and shot. Several dozen people disappeared during the three-month period of separatist control in Slovyansk.

“This is a terrible tragedy,” said Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian interior ministry adviser. “In this mass grave are the bodies