AUTHOR’S NOTE: This article contains images of corpses that may offend some readers.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Sunday that Sukhenko and her husband, who were reportedly abducted by Russian troops on March 23, had been “killed in captivity.”
A resident of the town, which was recently abandoned by Russian forces about 31 miles west of Kiev, told the Associated Press that Russian troops had targeted local officials in an attempt to win them over and kill them if they did not cooperate.
The fourth body found in the pit had not been identified, but is believed to have been a member of the Ukrainian security forces.
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: Image depicts death) The partially covered corpses of Mayor Olga Sukhenko, her husband and son and another man are seen found buried in a shallow grave in a forest after Ukrainian forces recaptured the area. village Motyzhyn, on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine, April 4, 2022. Metin Aktas / Anadolu Agency / Getty
“She was killed and her husband and her husband killed after being tortured,” said Anton Geraschenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, in a message posted on the Telegram social networking site.
Reporters from the AP and Reuters news agency saw the bodies of four people who appeared to have been shot at close range and thrown into a pit in Motyzhyn, and locals confirmed that the mayor and her family were blindfolded.
Ukrainian forces showed the grave in Motyzhyn to reporters as international anger over another alleged Russian atrocity on the outskirts of Kiev grew by the hour. Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelenskyy visited the city of Bucha on Monday, where he saw first-hand evidence of mass killings allegedly carried out by Russian invaders. A regional official said about 300 civilians were massacred in Bucha before Russia withdrew its forces from the city late last week, many of whom were buried in a shallow mass grave.
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