BRUSSELS, September 25 /ITAR-TASS/.  The European Union has received OSCE  information on discovery of mass graves near Donetsk and has called for investigation into all human rights violations in eastern Ukraine, a source at the EU external action service told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine reported on its website on September 23 that representatives of the Donetsk People’s Republic had found three mass graves near Donetsk.

“The ‘military police’ of ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ (‘DPR’) told the SMM that three unmarked graves allegedly containing multiple bodies had been found; two of them were located in a coal mine Komunar near the village Nyzhnia Krynka (35km north-east of Donetsk) and one inside the village,” the OSCE said in its report.

“The SMM proceeded to the scene and saw in the coal mine two areas located fifty meters apart, each containing two human bodies. All the four corpses were in the process of decomposition. The SMM also saw eight 9mm Makarov pistol cartridges approximately five meters away from the bodies. Near the road on the edge of the village, the SMM observed a pile of earth resembling a grave which had a stick with a plaque, written in Russian and containing the names (or in one case - initials) of five individuals, the OSCE said, adding the SMM had not seen any forensic experts neither in the coal mine nor in the village.

An inscription against one of the names indicates that the person had died on August 27, 2014.

“Also in Nyzhnia Krynka, the SMM observed a destroyed bridge over the water reservoir, connecting the locality with Donetsk. According to local residents, the bridge was blown up by Ukrainian soldiers leaving the area around 18 September,” the OSCE monitors said.

Forensic experts who had examined the remains in one of the graves discovered near the Komunar coal mine concluded that the people buried in it could have been killed by a shot in the head from close distance.  At present, there is information about four dead persons.

The entire territory around the Komunar coal mine which used to be controlled by Ukraine’s Aidar punitive battalion is going to be searched.  The militias have already found more graves, which they have left unopened so far.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, the Russian parliament, public and human rights organizations have demanded international investigation.

The EU external action service, meanwhile, believes that progress in implementing the peace plan signed in Minsk on September 5 will be a vital step towards restoration of law and order in the region.