KYIV: Parts of northeastern Ukraine are starting to yield evidence of a brutal Russian occupation, according to investigators who have regained access following Kyiv’s recent successful counteroffensive.
Investigators announced Friday that they had found at least 10 “torture centers” as well as a mass grave containing about 450 bodies near the just recaptured city of Izium.
Officials said the total number of victims in Izium had yet to be determined but that many of the bodies had broken limbs and some were buried with ropes around their necks.
“The world must see what the Russian army left behind … another mass burial of murdered people, children and adults, civilians and military,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video with English translation that his office posted Friday on social media.
“Even entire families are buried there,” he said, adding that even though the exhumation of the remains was still just getting underway, there was growing evidence of Russian abuse.
“The world should know that Russia leaves such traces of atrocities, traces of terror everywhere in the occupied territories,” Zelenskyy added.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians or committing war crimes, but the United Nations said Friday that it wanted to send its own team to investigate the site near Izium and determine the circumstances of the deaths.
The United States on Friday acknowledged seeing the reports of the alleged atrocities and renewed its pledge to help Ukraine make sure the incidents are documented and that the findings are shared with international investigators.
(VOA)
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