Headline Roundup • September 16th, 2022
Ukraine Inspects Mass Graves in Retaken City
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that a "mass burial site" was discovered in the recently liberated city of Izyum in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials told multiple news sources that at least 400 bodies were thought to be buried at the site, which is marked by hundreds of wooden crosses in a forest near the city. Officials will begin exhuming the graves on Friday to look for signs of torture and war crimes. Russia took control of Izyum early on in the invasion, and used it as a key military hub for its effort to conquer the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. The recent Ukrainian counteroffensive pushed Russians out of the city.
A senior adviser to Zelenskyy said that "many places of mass burials" and "many places where people were tortured" had been found in other retaken cities. When Ukraine retook the city of Bucha in April, hundreds of bodies of civilians were discovered in mass graves and in the streets, sparking accusations of Russian war crimes.
The mass graves in Izyum were covered prominently by news sources across the spectrum, and sources on all sides highlighted similar aspects of the story.
Featured Coverage of this Story
REUTERS
Ukraine says hundreds of graves have been found outside Izyum, days after it was re-taken from Russia.
Wooden crosses, most of them marked with numbers, were discovered in a forest outside the city by advancing Ukrainian forces.
Authorities said they would start exhuming some of the graves on Friday.
It is not yet clear what happened to the victims, but early accounts suggest some may have died from shelling and a lack of access to healthcare.
Speaking on Friday, the head of Ukraine's national police service said most of the...
AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that a "mass burial site" has been found in the recently liberated city of Izium in eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky said more details about the mass graves will be made available on Friday. The Associated Press reported on Thursday that the mass burial site was located in a forest near Izium, marked by hundreds of wooden crosses.
"A mass burial site was found in Izium, Kharkiv region," Zelensky said in his nightly address on Thursday.
"The necessary procedural actions have already begun there. There should be more information, clear, verified information, tomorrow," he...
AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Ukrainian authorities unearthed bodies, some they said bore hallmarks of torture, from a mass burial site Friday in an area recently recaptured from Russian forces. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cited the site as an example of “what the Russian occupation has led to.”
Digging in the rain, workers hauled body after body out of the sandy soil in a pine forest near Izium that police said contained 445 graves. Protected by full body suits and rubber gloves, they gently felt through the decomposing remains of their clothing, seemingly looking for things...
