The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday it plans to send a team to Izium to verify Ukrainian allegations that a mass grave containing 450 bodies was found after the city was recaptured from Russia.
“Our colleagues in Ukraine are following up on these allegations and are planning a visit to Izium to determine the circumstances of the deaths of these individuals.”said spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell.
About 450 graves have been discovered near Izium, a city in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkov region that was recently recaptured from Russian forces, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said Friday.
“This is just one of the mass graves discovered near Izium”he wrote in a post on the social network Twitter.
“For months, terror, violence, torture and massacres reigned in the occupied territories.he added, again calling on Ukraine’s supporters to send weapons to the country, so as not to leave the people alone with Evil.
According to local authorities, 443 graves were discovered, including one containing the bodies of 17 Ukrainian soldiers and an inscription that read “Ukrainian army, 17 people. Izium, mortuary.”
According to the government official for the search for missing persons, Oleg Kotenko, these graves were dug 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 tombs without a name are those of men” [encontradas] in the street”explained Kotenko, adding: “There are many people who have died of starvation”.
“This part of the city was isolated, with no supplies. People were blocked, nothing worked”he said, claiming that there are other cemeteries in the city but that Ukrainian authorities have not yet excavated them, so the overall situation is unknown.
Since the beginning of this month, thanks to a counter-offensive on several fronts, Ukraine has regained control of several thousand square kilometers of territory occupied by Russian troops.
The greatest successes were achieved in the Kharkov region, on the Russian border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday visited Izium, a city that had a population of about 50,000 before the war but was host to fighting and casualties last spring after it was taken by the Russian army, which became a strategic supply point.
However, the region was recaptured by the Ukrainian army last week.
Zelensky announced the discovery of what he described as a “mass grave” in Izium Thursday night, without giving details on the number of people buried or the causes of death.
A regional police officer, Serguii Botvinov, told the Sky News television channel that some victims were killed by bullets, while others died in bomb attacks.
The town of Izium was devastated by the fighting last week, according to the French news agency AFP, with houses and public buildings destroyed and the remains of armored vehicles scattered on the roads.
Russian troops have been accused by Ukraine of numerous abuses in the areas they occupied, most notably in Busha, a town on the outskirts of Kiev, where they withdrew in late March and where hundreds of bodies of executed civilians were found.
Russia denies committing these abuses.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24 has already resulted in nearly 6,000 civilian deaths and more than 8,000 injuries, according to the UN.
However, the United Nations warns that the real number is likely to be much higher, as it is not possible for the time being to know all the victims in Ukraine’s cities.
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 at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia. imposing sanctions.
Source: DN
