Ukrainian authorities found 440 graves in a mass burial in izium a city in the east of the country recently retaken from Russian forces, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a post on Twitter on Friday (16).
Previously, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian and international journalists would be brought to the scene to see what had been discovered. “We want the world to know what is really going on and what the Russian occupation has taken,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine’s Strategic Communications Center said on Thursday that some of the tombs discovered in Izium were “recent” and that the bodies buried there were “mainly civilians”.
Izium was the target of intense Russian artillery attacks in April. The city, which is close to the border between the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, became an important center for the invading military during five months of occupation.
Ukrainian forces regained control of the city on Saturday, dealing a strategic blow to Russia’s military attack in the east.
Photos released by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on Friday showed several crosses in pits in a wooded area near Izium, as well as a larger pit dug into the forest floor.
Zelensky said during his speech on Thursday that Russia must be held responsible for the deaths at the scene and in other cities where large numbers of bodies were found.
“Bucha, Mariupol and now, unfortunately, Izium… Russia leaves death everywhere. And you must be responsible for that. The world must hold Russia responsible for this war. We will do anything for it,” she added.
Serhii Bolvinov, chief investigator for the Kharkiv region police, previously told Britain’s Sky News that there may be other mass burial sites in the Kharkiv area.
Speaking specifically about the 440 graves, Bolvinov told Sky News that exhumations so far have shown the victims died from a variety of causes.
“We know that some were killed (shot), some died from artillery fire, the so-called mine explosion trauma. Some died from air strikes. We also have information that many bodies have yet to be identified. Thus, the reasons for the deaths will be established during the investigations,” Bolvinov said, quoted by Sky News.
Meanwhile, Oleh Kotenko, Ukraine’s commissioner for missing persons, said in a Telegram post that operations to search for the remains of “fallen heroes” were proceeding cautiously across the region.
“The biggest problem is that some areas are still mined. Despite that, we keep working, because we have to return every hero home so that families can honor the memory of soldiers who died for Ukraine in a dignified way as soon as possible,” Kotenko said.
Zelensky visited Izium on Wednesday and told journalists he was “shocked” by the number of “destroyed buildings” and “dead people” left after the Russian occupation.
Moscow was using Izium as a launch pad for attacks south into the Donetsk and Kupyansk region, some 30 miles north of Izium, and as a rail hub to resupply its forces.
Zelensky also thanked foreign governments for sending investigators and prosecutors to look into alleged human rights abuses by occupying forces in Ukraine, adding that all occupied areas would eventually return.
Ukrainian forces are on a sustained military offensive, particularly in the northeast and south of the country.
Zelensky said on Tuesday that 8,000 square kilometers of territory had already been liberated by Ukrainian forces so far this month, with about half of the area still undergoing “stabilization” measures.
Source: CNN Brasil
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