Some 450 graves have been discovered near Izium, a town in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region recently recaptured by Russian forces, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said on Friday.
“This is just one of the mass burial sites discovered near Izium,” he wrote in a message posted on Twitter.
“For months terror, violence, torture and mass murder reigned in the occupied territories,” he added, again appealing to supporters of Ukraine to send weapons to the country so as not to leave “people alone with what bad”.
According to local authorities, 443 graves were discovered, including one containing the bodies of 17 Ukrainian soldiers and an inscription reading “Ukrainian Army, 17 people. Izium, morgue.”
450 Basses… Just one of the massive Basses discovered near Izyum. For months, unbridled terror, violence, torture and mass murder reigned in the occupied territories. Does anyone else want to “freeze the war” instead of sending tanks? We have no right to leave people alone with Evil. pic.twitter.com/YxGyOZfm1Y
– Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) September 16, 2022
According to the government official in charge of searching for missing persons, Oleg Kotenko, these graves were excavated during the fighting that took place when the city was taken by Russian forces in March and during the Russian occupation, which ended last week. Some graves may contain multiple bodies.
“The graves that have no name are those of the people [encontradas] on the street,” Kotenko explained, adding that “many people have starved to death.
“This part of the city was isolated, without supplies. People were blocked, nothing was working,” he said, claiming that there are other ‘cemeteries’ in the city, but that the Ukrainian authorities have not yet excavated it, so it is not. the global situation is known.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights announced, however, that “soon” it will send a team to Izium to “determine the circumstances of people’s deaths.”
Ukrainian police chief Igor Klymenko also announced the discovery of 10 “torture rooms” in sites recaptured from the Russians in the Kharkiv region, including two in the city of Balakliia.
Since the beginning of this month, Ukraine has regained control of several thousand square kilometers of territory that had been occupied by Russian forces thanks to a counteroffensive launched on several fronts.
The greatest achievements were made in the Kharkiv region, on the border with Russia.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, visited Izium on Wednesday, a town that had about 50,000 inhabitants before the war, but which was the scene of fighting and many casualties last spring, having been taken by the Russian army, which became a strategic point for supply.
However, the region was reconquered by the Ukrainian army last week.
Zelensky announced Thursday night the discovery of what he described as a “mass grave” in Izium, without giving details on the number of people buried or the causes of death.
Russian forces have been accused by Ukraine of numerous abuses in the territories they occupy, in particular in Busha, a city on the outskirts of kyiv, from which they withdrew at the end of March and where hundreds of bodies of executed civilians were found.
Russia denies committing these abuses.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused, according to the UN, almost 6,000 civilian deaths and more than 8,000 wounded.
However, the United Nations warns that the real number is likely to be much higher, since, for now, it is not possible to know all the victims in the cities of Ukraine.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the international community in general, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia. .
Source: TSF
