Ukrainian police discovers mass burial site containing over 440 bodies in Izium
A mass burial site in Izium was discovered after the city was liberated from Russian forces. In addition, two more burial sites were found in Kharkiv.
Amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, a mass burial site in Izium was discovered after the city was liberated from Russian forces on September 10. The burial site of civilians contained 447 bodies and some of them indicated signs of torture, The Kyiv Independent reported citing Ukrainian police. The Ukrainian authorities have also discovered two more burial sites in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.
According to the text appearing in the video shared by The Kyiv Independent, Dmytro Shevchuk, Deputy Chief of the War Crimes Investigation Unit at the National Police of Ukraine, accused Russian forces of killing people using aviation bombs and mortar shelling in Izium.
He claimed that they found traces of torture on some of the bodies after inspecting them. According to him, some of the people who were buried at the site had their hands tied behind their backs. He claimed that some people had stab injuries in different parts of their bodies. Shevchuk said that some of the people died due to mortar shelling and were having shrapnel injuries.
Investigators sent bodies for forensic analysis
The investigators exhumed the bodies and sent them for forensic analysis to find the cause of the death and identify the victims, as per the news report. He underscored that the bodies of people have started to decompose as they were buried without plastic bags and coffins. According to Ukrainian police, the burial site in Izium was dug up between March to May.
The people who have been killed included 22 service personnel and 425 civilians, as per the news report. It is not the first time that Ukrainian authorities have revealed tragedies inflicted by Russian forces in Ukraine. Earlier in April, Ukrainian authorities shared images depicting horrors caused by retreating Russian troops in Bucha and other regions of Ukraine.
Majority of bodies showed signs of torture: Syniehubov
Meanwhile, Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region military administration, claimed that most of the bodies found at the burial site in Izium showed signs of torture, CNN reported. Syniehubov claimed that the bodies were discovered with “a rope around the neck, with hands tied, with broken limbs and with gunshot wounds.”
He stressed that all this shows the “terrible torture” faced by residents of Izium. Ukraine recaptured Izium in September and Russian forces were forced to pull back from the region. He asserted that the crimes committed by Russian forces will be “documented” and perpetrators will be made to pay for their actions.
Image: AP
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