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“There is no doubt that summary killings and atrocities are being committed by … pro-Kyiv forces in Eastern Ukraine, but is difficult to get an accurate sense of the scale of these abuses,” John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Director at Amnesty International.

On September 23, several mass graves with over 400 bodies of civilians and independence supporters, apparently killed execution-style, were found northeast of Donetsk. Independence supporters of southeastern Ukraine claim that the massacre was carried out by Ukraine’s National Guard fighters, who had stayed in the area since April, when Kyiv launched its military operation in the region. Ukrainian authorities have denied the accusation.

An Amnesty International delegation visited the area on 26 September. The delegation, Amnesty’s report says “found strong evidence implicating Kyiv-controlled forces in the extrajudicial executions of four men buried in two graves near the village of Komunar. Five further bodies buried in a single grave nearby were revealed to belong to separatist fighters. Amnesty International spoke to members of their unit who said they had been killed in the course of hostilities.

“The reality behind Russian claims of ‘mass graves’ in Nyzhnya Krynka is grizzly enough. It points to extra-judicial killing of four local residents by either regular Ukrainian armed forces or volunteer battalions operating in the area. These must now be investigated thoroughly. But it also shows the extent to which accusations of abuses are being inflated, particularly by the Russian authorities, in the parallel propaganda war,” said John Dalhuisen.

(VoR, RIA Novosti)