3 bodies with hands tied found near Bucha: police

The bodies of three men with their hands tied were found in a pit near Bucha, a town close to Kyiv that has become synonymous with allegations of Russian war crimes, Ukraine police said Saturday.

"On April 29, a pit with the bodies of three men was found in the Bucha district," a police statement said.

"The victims' hands were tied, cloths were covering their eyes and some were gagged. There are traces of torture on the corpses, as well as gunshot wounds to various parts of the body."

Bucha hit the global headlines when dozens of bodies in civilian clothing were found there in early April, some with their hands tied, after Russian troops pulled out following a month-long occupation.

Since then, more and more corpses have been discovered there and in the surrounding towns and villages, with the Kyiv police on Saturday giving an overall figure of 1,202.

"The victims were tortured for a long period of time, bullet wounds were found on the extremities. Finally, each of the men was shot in the ear," said Kyiv's regional police chief Andriy Nebytov in the statement.