According to a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, a total of at least 1,000 bodies have been found in Izjum.
A mass grave has been found in the city of Izjum in the eastern part of Ukraine. Ukraine retook the city after months of Russian occupation last weekend.
News agency AP says its reporters saw a grave site in the forest outside Izjum on Thursday. There was a mass grave in which, according to the inscription, 17 Ukrainian soldiers were buried. In addition, there were hundreds of individual graves marked only with crosses.
News channel Sky News (switch to another service) has interviewed an investigative officer of the Kharkiv region police Serhii Bolvinovaccording to which the grave site found in Izjum has about 440 individual graves.
– About 440 bodies are buried in one place, Bolvinov said.
Representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko said Thursday to the BBC (switching to another service), that so far around 1,000 bodies have been found in Izjum. It is not clear from Gerašchenko’s interview whether the mass grave mentioned by Bolvinov is included in the story he told.
According to Bolvinov, among the dead are those who were shot, killed by artillery fire and killed in airstrikes. All the bodies are going to be exhumed for forensic examination.
– According to our information, there are many bodies that have not yet been identified. The causes of death will be confirmed during the investigations, Bolvinov said.
According to Bolvinov, other grave sites are also known in the area recaptured from Russia.
Also the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi told in a video call (you switch to another service) from the mass grave found in Izjum late Thursday. In his speech, the president did not provide more detailed information about the grave discovery.
A five-month occupation
Ukrainian forces liberated the city of Izjum from Russian occupation last weekend. Russia captured the city at the beginning of April.
According to President Zelenskyi, Ukrainian and international journalists will be present in Izjum on Friday.
– We want the world to know what is really happening and what the Russian occupation has caused, Zelenskyi said.
– Butcha, Mariupol, now unfortunately Izjum…. Russia leaves behind death everywhere. It must be held accountable, the president continued.
In the spring after the Russian occupation, mass graves and hundreds of bodies were found in the town of Butša. Mariupol was practically completely destroyed by Russia.