Amid Ukrainian and Western accusations that Russian forces committed atrocities in the city of Izium in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine before retreating, satellite images show mass graves among the city’s trees.
The pictures showed a forest before and after the withdrawal of the Russian forces, showing that a mass grave had been dug in the trees.
This came after local authorities began exhuming hundreds of bodies from the cemetery, some of them handcuffed or tied to their necks.
On Friday, Ukrainian officials, wearing protective suits and masks, began excavating an exhumation site at the burial site, where about 200 burials were scattered among the trees of a forest.
Graphic Content: Today I saw that Ukraine began exhuming more than 440 bodies found in a mass grave on the outskirts of the liberated city of Izium in the Kharkiv region.
At least one civilian showed signs of torture, while I saw two bodies (believed to be soldiers) with their hands tied. pic.twitter.com/hqCENLdtDf
— Liz Cookman (@liz_cookman) September 16, 2022
“This is a mass grave,” Kharkiv governor Oleg Sengubov said.
Stating that some bodies were tied from behind, he noted that the authorities will investigate and evaluate each incident in a proper legal manner.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, in turn, considered this cemetery to be a witness of Russian war crimes.
In an interview with Reuters, he said that many bodies were also buried in other parts of the northeast and called on foreign powers to increase arms delivery to his country, saying that the outcome of the war depends on how quickly they are delivered.
He explained that 450 dead have been buried so far, but pointed out that there are other places where many people have been buried separately.
He emphasized that people were tortured, while entire families disappeared in certain areas.
While the horrific scenes of the exhumation of bodies in this city, which came under the control of Ukrainian forces a few days ago, were published on social networks and international media.
For his part, the head of the pro-Russian government, which left the region last week, accused Ukrainians of committing atrocities in Izium.
“I haven’t heard anything about a burial there,” Vitaly Ganchev told state-run Rossiya 24 television on Friday evening.
As for Russian President Vladimir Putin, he did not immediately respond to Kyiv’s accusations, but downplayed the surprise counterattack by Ukrainian forces and warned that Moscow would respond with more force if its forces were pressed further.
It should be noted that if this number of bodies is confirmed, this burial site in Izium will be the largest mass grave discovered in Europe since the graves left by the Balkan wars in the 1990s.
About two weeks ago, Ukrainian forces launched a counter-offensive to retake the cities that Russian forces had under their control for months in Kharkiv (northeast of the country) and were able to achieve significant progress.
It also launched a massive offensive to reclaim territory in the south as it seeks to encircle thousands of Russian troops cut off on the west bank of the Dnieper River and to retake Kherson, the only major city Russia retains. control since the start of Russian military operations in the territory of its western neighbor on February 24.
Source: Lebanon Debate
