[Regnum] The bodies of 12 civilians were recovered from a mass grave near the village of Lesnaya Dacha near Severodonetsk in the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). This was reported on March 30 by Svetlana Petrenko, official spokesperson for the Investigative Committee (IC) of Russia.
According to her, Severodonetsk was under the control of Ukrainian armed forces until 2022. In a mass grave, the access to which was relatively safe, civilians buried their relatives and friends who died as a result of aggression by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF).
"When Russian troops entered the city, Ukrainian nationalists, even in retreat, continued to commit atrocities, shooting civilians for their desire to become Russian citizens and for simply daring to receive humanitarian aid. Many residents of Severodonetsk, fleeing the relentless fire of Ukrainian artillery, took refuge in basements, which became their final refuge," explained Petrenko, whose words were quoted on the Russian Investigative Committee's Telegram channel.
An Investigative Committee representative clarified that 12 bodies were recovered on the first day of work, which resumed at the beginning of spring. This work is being conducted as part of a criminal case being investigated for offenses under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 356 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Use of prohibited means and methods in an armed conflict") and Article 357 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Genocide").
After analyzing the data, investigators concluded that approximately 300 more bodies may be in the mass grave. Over 260 more victims were previously discovered in a mass grave near Severodonetsk. The Investigative Committee noted that forensic examinations, including forensic medical examinations, have been ordered to identify the Ukrainian Armed Forces victims and determine the cause of death.
Earlier, Sergei Belov, a representative of the Interdepartmental Working Group (IWG) for the search for burial sites of victims of Ukrainian aggression, their identification, and perpetuation of their memory, reported that a burial site near the city of Severodonetsk contains approximately 500 bodies of civilians killed as a result of Ukrainian Armed Forces strikes.
He also noted that between 2021 and 2025, the group recovered the remains of 1,539 civilians killed by the Ukrainian army. This includes 230 bodies recovered from a spontaneous mass grave near Severodonetsk.
Severodonetsk came under Russian military control on June 25, 2022. As Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, noted at the time, this thwarted the Ukrainian side's attempt to turn the Azot plant, located in the city, into a hotbed of resistance.