Bucolic Ukraine forest is site of mass grave exhumation

BUCHA, Ukraine — The lush green beauty of a pine forest with singing birds contrasted with the violent deaths of newly discovered victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine, as workers exhumed bodies from another mass grave near the town of Bucha on Kyiv’s outskirts. “The hands tied behind the back with tape say that people had been held for a long time and tried to get any information from them.” Since the withdrawal of Russian troops from the region at the end of March, authorities say they have uncovered the bodies of 1,316 people, many in mass graves in the forest and elsewhere. How could mass killings, torture, burned cities, and filtration camps set up by the Russian military in the occupied territories resembling Nazi concentration camps come true?” ___ MORE STORIES ON THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: — The battle of Donbas could prove decisive in Ukraine war — Mexican president slams NATO policy in Ukraine — Japan philanthropic group begins fundraising for Ukrainians ___ OTHER DEVELOPMENTS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had driven the Russians out of more than 1,000 settlements since the war began, and he vowed Monday they would liberate all occupied territory, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. ___ The Russian military said Monday it destroyed “a large number of weapons and military equipment” that Ukrainian forces had received from the U.S. and Europe. Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said Monday that the international community already has taken swift action to investigate alleged atrocities in Ukraine but there is “an urgent need to further coordinate existing efforts on this front.” The July 14 meeting in The Hague will be hosted by the Dutch government, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan and European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders.