Prosecutors, police officers and journalists are heading to Izium after authorities there said they had found a mass grave containing more than 440 bodies. Some of the people had been killed by shelling and airstrikes, authorities said. Serhiy Bolvinov, the chief police investigator for Kharkiv province, said forensic investigations would be carried out on every body in the grave, which was reportedly located in woods near the city. While authorities said some had been killed by shelling and airstrikes, investigators have prepared themselves for the worst, after the discoveries of slain civilians bearing signs of torture in Bucha and other previously occupied territories.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy likened the discovery to what happened in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, saying in his Thursday night video address: “Russia is leaving death behind it everywhere and must be held responsible. The necessary procedures have already begun there. More information – clear, verifiable information – should be available tomorrow.”
Andriy Yermak, the presidential chief of staff in Ukraine, accused Russia of being “a murderer country, a state sponsor of terrorism.”
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, urged people “don’t look away” from the images emerging from liberated Ukrainian cities like Izium. She said “This is the face of Russian occupation: towns and cities turned into mass graves. Ukraine has used our military aid with skill and determination. Ukraine can win if we keep supporting them.”
