After the reconquest, desolation. A “mass grave” was discovered in Izium, a city recaptured from the Russians a few days ago as part of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday evening.
“We want the world to know what the Russian occupation has caused,” he said, without giving details of the number of people buried or the causes of their deaths. The investigation has begun, “we must have more verified and clear information tomorrow,” added the Ukrainian president in his daily video address.
He compared Izium to the cities of Butcha and Mariupol which became symbols of the atrocities of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Russia leaves death behind everywhere. And she must respond. The world really needs to hold Russia accountable for this war. We will do everything for that,” he said.
440 graves, according to the police
Regional police official Sergiy Botvinov told Sky News that a burial site with around 440 graves had been discovered in Izium. Some of the deceased were shot dead, others died in shelling, he added. He said the remains would be exhumed for autopsy.
The adviser to the presidency Mykhaïlo Podoliak mentioned to him some “four hundred and fifty graves”. “This is just one of the mass burial sites discovered near Izioum,” he wrote on Twitter. “For months, terror, violence, torture and mass murder reigned supreme in the occupied territories,” he added. He once again called on Ukraine’s supporters to send him arms, so as not to “leave people alone with evil”.
A AP journalist who was able to go there noted the presence of “hundreds of graves” marked with a wooden cross, most often with a simple number. A larger grave would contain, according to the inscription on a sign, the remains of 17 Ukrainian soldiers. Officials on site told AP that the figure could be higher, between 25 and 30.