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Ukrainian authorities have found a mass burial site of more than 440 bodies in the eastern city of Izyum that was recaptured from Russian forces, a regional police chief has said.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed the discovery of the burial site in his address to the country on Thursday night.
A regional police official said earlier that some of those killed had died in shelling or air raids.
“The necessary procedures have already begun there. More information clear, verifiable information should be available tomorrow,” said Zelenskyy, who had visited Izyum on Wednesday.
Journalists who travelled to the site described hundreds of graves marked with simple wooden crosses among the trees. A larger grave bore a marker saying it contained the bodies of 17 Ukrainian soldiers, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Investigators were said to be using metal detectors to look for any hidden explosives.
“I can say it is one of the largest burial sites in a big town in liberated [areas]440 bodies were buried in one place,” Serhiy Bolvinov, the chief police investigator for the Kharkiv region, told the United Kingdom’s Sky News. “Some died because of artillery fire some died because of air strikes.”
In his address, Zelenskyy invoked the killings in Bucha, on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv, where Ukrainians found bodies of civilians lying in the streets in early April after Russian soldiers withdrew. He also referenced the southern port city of Mariupol, where Ukraine says tens of thousands of civilians probably died in the Russian assault and prolonged siege.
“Bucha, Mariupol, now, unfortunately, Izyum. … Russia leaves death everywhere. And it must be held accountable for it. The world must bring Russia to real responsibility for this war,” he said.
Russia has denied targeting civilians or committing war crimes.
