MOSCOW, September 24. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia is insisting on an urgent and comprehensive investigation into mass burials outside Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
“On September 23, a burial place presumably containing civilians was found on the grounds of the Kommunar mine 60 km from Donetsk. Several half-decayed bodies in civilian clothing were lying in the ‘mass grave’,” the ministry said.
The people were likely to have been executed as suggested by their hands tied behind the back, “finishing shots” in the head and spent 9-mm cartridges near the bodies, the ministry said.
“The information available at this moment suggests that civilians were cold-bloodedly killed by Ukrainian troops. It has been reported that several days before the discovery this area was left by the servicemen from the 25th Air Mobile Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Aidar Battalion who had held it prior to that,” the ministry said.
“These are likely to be war crimes that cannot be justified. We are insisting on an urgent and comprehensive investigation and prosecution of those responsible,” the ministry said.
It urged the United Nations, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe as well as their relevant bodies and institutions and human rights NGOs to make their assessment of the situation.
“We think that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine and the Council of Europe’s International Advisory Panel investigating law offences in Ukraine cold join in the investigation of these war crimes,” the ministry said.