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