Izyum mass grave latest in alleged Russian atrocities meted out to Ukrainians

Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians as well as committing war crimes in Ukraine

Plastic bags with corpses exhumed from a mass grave are lined up in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Ukrainian authorities have reportedly found 440 bodies, mostly civilians, in the city of Izyum is the latest of a series of atrocities allegedly meted out by Russian forces during the war.

Police and forensic experts are helping to exhume the bodies at the site in an area that was recently recaptured by Ukranian forces. A number of the bodies have been found with rope around their necks and hands tied.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly address blamed Russia for the deaths and said that Vladimir Putin’s forces were “leaving death behind it everywhere and must be held responsible.”

He also invoked the names of other Ukrainian cities where authorities said retreating Russian troops left behind mass graves of civilians. “Bucha, Mariupol, now, unfortunately, Izium,” he said.

But it is not the first time such allegations of atrocity have been made against Russian forces.

In April, just two months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin’s troops were accused of a series of war crimes in the town of Bucha.

Officials in Ukraine said after Russian troops left the area, corpses were found in the street and some were in mass graves. There was evidence many had been bound, with gunshots to the head, and others showed signs of torture.

Mr Zelensky accused Russia of taking part in a “genocide” against the Ukrainian people. Human Rights Watch researchers attended the site 10 days after Russian forces left and confirmed evidence of executions, torture and unlawful killing.

Richard Weir, crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said: “Nearly every corner in Bucha is now a crime scene, and it felt like death was everywhere.

A view of unidentified graves of civilians and Ukrainian soldiers in a cemetery in the recently retaken area of Izyum (AP)

“The evidence indicates that Russian forces occupying Bucha showed contempt and disregard for civilian life and the most fundamental principles of the laws of war.”

In Ukraine’s northeastern region of Trostyanets in Sumy, The Independent exclusively revealed fresh evidence of war crimes as victims spoke of torture and one prisoner said a man was beaten to death next to them.

Our reporter Bel Trew spoke to a number of Ukrainians trapped in a torture room, where they say they were starved, tortured and forced to sit in their own excrement by Russian soldiers.

Mr Weir said the allegations brought to light are “a tragic addition to the growing list of abuses and apparent war crimes perpetrated by Russian forces during their occupation of Ukrainian towns and villages”.

Other cases of abuse have been documented by HRW, including an incident in the village of Staryi Bykiv, in the Chernihiv region where Russian soldiers rounded up and executed six men on February 27.

In another case a woman said she had been repeatedly raped and beaten by a soldier at a school in Kharkiv on March 13.

These cases from the HRW are just a few of the tens of thousands that are being investigated by Ukranian prosecutors all over the country since the invasion by Russian forces in February.

Moscow has repeatedly and vehemently denied targeting civilians as well as committing war crimes in Ukraine.

Additional reporting by agencies