Zelensky: Mass grave found in Ukraine town retaken from Russia

Zelensky: Mass grave found in Ukraine town retaken from Russia
September 16, 2022, 5:32 am

On Sunday (May 29), president Volodymyr Zelensky made his first trip outside Kyiv since the beginning of the Russian invasion. He visited Ukrainian troops on the frontlines in the northeastern Kharkiv region - Photo: President Zelensky Facebook account

Ukrainian authorities found a mass burial site near a recaptured northeastern city previously occupied by Russian forces, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Thursday night (Sep 15). The grave was discovered close to Izium in the Kharkiv region.

“The necessary procedures have already begun there. More information — clear, verifiable information — should be available tomorrow,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly televised address.

"We want the world to know what the Russian occupation has caused," he said, without giving details on the number of bodies found or their cause of death.

"We need to have more clear and verified information tomorrow."

Associated Press journalists saw the site Thursday in a forest outside Izium. Amid the trees were hundreds of graves with simple wooden crosses, most of them marked only with numbers.

Tank forces in Ukraine - Photo. 📷 128th separate mountain assault brigade via Euromaidan Press

A larger grave bore a marker saying it contained the bodies of 17 Ukrainian soldiers.

Investigators with metal detectors were scanning the site for any hidden explosives.

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Oleg Kotenko, an official with the Ukrainian ministry tasked with reintegrating occupied territories, said videos that Russian soldiers posted on social media indicated there were likely more than 17 bodies in the grave.

“We haven’t counted them yet, but I think there are more than 25 or even 30,” he said.

Izium resident Sergei Gorodko said that among the hundreds buried in individual graves were dozens of adults and children killed in a Russian airstrike on an apartment building.

Zelensky visits recaptured town of Izium in northeast Ukraine

He said he pulled some of them out of the rubble “with my own hands.”

“ Bucha, Mariupol, now, unfortunately, Izium. … Russia leaves death everywhere. And it must be held accountable for it. The world must bring Russia to real responsibility for this war,” Zelensky said in the address, mentioning the names Ukrainian cities where authorities said retreating Russian troops left behind mass graves of civilians and evidence of possible war crimes.

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