99% of exhumed bodies have 'signs of violent death' — Ukraine official

KYIV, Ukraine — Ninety-nine percent of exhumed bodies had signs of violent death, Ukraine's regional administration head said Friday of the mass burial site discovered after Kyiv's forces recaptured the east Ukrainian town of Izyum.

"Among the bodies that were exhumed today, 99 percent showed signs of violent death," Oleg Synegubov, head of Kharkiv regional administration, said on social media.

"There are several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs, and one person is buried with a rope around his neck," he added.

"Obviously, these people were tortured and executed."

Earlier Friday, AFP journalists saw that at least one of the bodies uncovered at the burial site in a forest outside Izyum had bound hands.

It was not clear, given the condition of the body, whether the victim was wearing civilian clothes or a military uniform.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed out at Russia after officials began exhuming bodies from the site.

"Russia leaves only death and suffering. Murderers. Torturers," Zelensky said in a statement on social media, adding that children were among the more than 400 bodies discovered.