Graves in Ukraine: signs of "violent death" on 99% of the bodies exhumed in Izium

According to the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegoubov, “99%” of the bodies exhumed this Friday in Izium, a city in eastern Ukraine recently taken over from the Russians, “showed signs of violent death”.

The Ukrainian human rights official, Dmytro Loubinets, for his part indicated on Telegram that “there (were) probably more than 1,000 Ukrainian citizens tortured and killed in the liberated territories of the Kharkiv region”.

Mr Synegoubov claimed on Telegram that there were “several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs” in Izium.

“A person is buried with a rope around his neck.

Obviously, these people were tortured and executed,” he added, accompanying his message with photos of the hundreds of graves found near Izioum.

According to him, "450 bodies of civilians bearing traces of violent death and torture were buried" on this site discovered by the Ukrainian authorities.

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Earlier in the day, an AFP journalist had been able to see at least one body with its hands tied with a rope on the same site, without being able to establish immediately whether it was a civilian or a soldier, the body being too damaged.

On Telegram, Oleg Synegoubov said that "there were also children" among the bodies exhumed during the day by the "200 agents and experts" working on the site.

“A bloody and brutal terror”

“The bodies will be sent for autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

Each death will be investigated and become evidence of Russia's war crimes in international courts.

(…) The scale of the crimes committed (by the Russians) in Izium is enormous”, he supported, denouncing “a bloody and brutal terror”.

Launched at the beginning of September, the Ukrainian army's counter-offensive in the region has enabled the reconquest of territories hitherto occupied by troops from Moscow.

Previously accused of war crimes in other regions of Ukraine, notably around kyiv in the first weeks of the conflict, Moscow has always rejected these accusations.