A mass burial site containing at least 440 bodies was found in a recaptured Ukrainian city, officials say
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Sophia Ankel
Sep 16, 2022, 20:58 IST
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends flag hoisting ceremony in Izyum after the Ukrainian forces took control of the city from the Russian forces in Kharkiv, Ukraine on September 14, 2022.Metin AktaÅ/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
At least 440 graves were found in the recaptured Ukrainian city of Izyum, officials said Thursday.
Some of the victims may have died from shelling and airstrikes, the officials said.
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A mass burial site containing at least 440 bodies was found in the recaptured Ukrainian city of Izyum, officials said.
Ukraine's defense ministry said on Friday that mass graves were discovered in the city after it was retaken from Russia, and that the largest burial site had 440 unmarked graves.
Some of the bodies were found with ropes around their necks and their hands tied, Reuters reported — something that would be evidence of torture.
Ukraine's Center for Strategic Communications said on Friday that a mass gave with more than 400 bodies had been found. It said that some of the graves were "fresh" and that the dead were "mostly civilians."
"The Russian invaders enacted the same brutal terror everywhere they come," it said.
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Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, tweeted on Thursday that dozens of wooden crosses were discovered in a forest outside the city in the eastern Kharkiv region.
The defense ministry, communications center, and Yermak all shared pictures that show multiple wooden crosses between trees.
"Necessary procedures have already begun. All bodies will be exhumed and sent for forensic examination," Yermak said.
"Russia is a murderer country. A state sponsor of terrorism," he wrote.
What happened to all of the victims is unclear.
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But the chief police investigator for the Kharkiv region, Serhii Bolvinov, told reporters on Thursday that some of them may have died from shelling and airstrikes, Sky News reported.
"We know that some were killed [shot dead], some died because of artillery fire, so-called mine explosion traumas. Some died because of airstrikes," Bolvinov told reporters, as per Sky News.
"Also we have information that a lot of bodies have not been identified yet."
"For me, it was especially shocking and horrific and this is a crime against humanity. It shouldn't be like this in a civilized world in 2022," he added, according to Sky News.
Zelenskyy said in his address: "Russia leaves death everywhere. And it must be held accountable for that. The world must hold Russia to real account for this war. We will do everything for this."
Ukrainian forces found mass graves and evidence of war crimes in both Bucha and Mariupol.
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The UN is investigating possible war crimes in Bucha, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in April that events in Bucha were a "deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities."
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