Torture chambers have been found in areas of Ukraine liberated from Russia in the latest evidence of President Vladimir Putin ’s troops committing sickening war crimes.
The grim discoveries came after around 450 graves were identified in Izyum, one of more than 20 towns retaken in a lightning counter-offensive by Kyiv that is routing Kremlin forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “More than 10 torture chambers have already been found in the Kharkiv region, in cities and towns.
“Torture was a widespread practice in the occupied territories.
“That’s what the Nazis did – this is what the Russians do. They will answer in the same way – both on the battlefield and in courtrooms.”
The European Union presidency, currently held by the Czech Republic, called yesterday for an international tribunal over Russia’s invasion.
“We stand for the punishment of all war criminals,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said. “In the 21st Century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent.
“We must not overlook it. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals.”
At the mass grave near Izyum, Volodymyr Kolesnyk searched for remains of loved ones killed in an airstrike on an apartment block in April.
He paused before a cross marked number 199 after checking the list a local funeral firm gave him. A small sign on it had the name Yurii Yakovenko – his cousin. Cross number 164 was his cousin’s wife. At 174 lay his cousin’s mother.
He said: “They buried the bodies in bags, without coffins, without anything. I was not allowed here at first. The Russians said it was mined.
“There were a lot of them in the woods, so it was scary to come here.”
The first body that was recovered had a rope around its neck and showed signs of having suffered a “violent death”. Regional prosecutor Olexander Ilyenkov said there was no doubt war crimes had been committed.
“In the first grave, there is a civilian who has a rope over her neck. So we see the traces of torture,” he said. “Some were killed, some were tortured, and some died in Russian Federation air and artillery strikes.”
Serhii Cherniak, 61, who lived close to the scene, said: “They didn’t even cover them with sacks. They were just dumped as if they were dogs.
“It’s not even a grave, it was a ditch the Russians used to park one of their vehicles. They came up, threw them down and sprinkled sand.”
Around 100 Ukrainian emergency service workers are digging up the makeshift graves, trying to establish the cause of death of hundreds of people buried in the forest at the edge of the city.
The head of the pro-Russian administration that abandoned the area accuses Ukrainians of staging the atrocities.
“I have not heard anything about burials,” Vitaly Ganchev told state TV.
