Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday condemned the crimes of an army of “killers” and “tormentors” after the discovery of hundreds of bodies buried in a forested area near Izyum, a city in eastern Ukraine, recently seized from Russian troops.

There are 450 graves in the restored city with traces of torture and executions – Photo: STR Press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine / AFP

According to local authorities, a total of 450 graves were found in the city, including a ditch with the remains of 17 Ukrainian soldiers.

“Ninety-nine percent of the exhumed bodies showed signs of violent death,” Oleg Sinegubov, the governor of the region, said in the evening. “There are several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs and one person is buried with a rope around his neck. Obviously, these people were tortured and executed,” he wrote on Telegram.

According to him, a total of 450 bodies of civilians with traces of violent death and torture were buried at this place.

He added that among the bodies exhumed during the day by “200 agents and experts” working on the spot, “there were also children.”

– “Killers. Torturers” –

The President of Ukraine promised in a video posted on Telegram “terribly just punishment” for those responsible for the alleged crimes committed in Izyum.

Zelenskiy visited Izyum on Wednesday during his first trip to the region, which borders Russia since the withdrawal of Moscow troops driven out by a counter-offensive launched earlier this month on several fronts.

According to Ukrainian police chief Igor Klymenko, ten alleged “torture centers” were also found in places taken from Russians in the Kharkiv region, two of them in the city of Balakleya.

Ombudsman of the Ukrainian people Dmytro Lubinets stated on Telegram that “probably more than 1,000 citizens of Ukraine were tortured and killed in the liberated territories of the Kharkiv region.”

“Russia leaves only death and suffering. The killers. Torturers,” Zelensky assured. The President of Ukraine specified that some of the exhumed remains belonged to children and people who were probably tortured before they died.

The international community also reacted to the discovery. Russia is acting “horribly, and it sees itself and repeats itself every time the Russian wave retreats from parts of its occupied territories in Ukraine,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said, stressing that “in many cases it will deal with war.” crimes.”

The European Union was “deeply alarmed” by the “atrocities” committed near Izyum. “This is the inhumane behavior of the Russian forces […] should be stopped immediately,” said Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy, in a note.

– “Bloody and cruel terror” –

According to Oleg Kotenko, a state official in charge of searching for the missing, the graves were dug during the fighting that took place during the capture of the city by Russian troops in March, as well as during the Russian occupation that ended last week.

Oleg Sinegubov, the governor of the region, said that “the bodies will be subjected to an autopsy to determine the cause of death.” Condemning the “bloody and cruel terror”, he believed that “every death (…) will become evidence of Russia’s war crimes.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights promptly announced that she wanted to send a group to Izyum “in the near future” to “establish the circumstances of the death of these people.”

– Putin wants the war to continue –

Meanwhile, in the Luhansk region (east) on Friday, “positional battles” continued, and in the neighboring Donetsk region, as a result of Russian bombing, in particular in Baymouth, five people were killed and six were injured, the Ukrainian president said.

On the southern front, where Ukrainian forces have met with more resistance than in Kharkiv, “the situation remains difficult,” although the Kyiv army continues to bomb bridges used by Kremlin forces, the same source said.

On Friday, 12 people were injured in “massive” Russian bombing raids in areas recently liberated by Ukrainian forces in the region.

In the breakaway region of Lugansk region, in Dombassa (east), the prosecutor general died together with his deputy as a result of an explosion in the offices where they worked.

Together with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a regional summit in Uzbekistan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a speedy end to the conflict in Ukraine.

After meeting with his Chinese ally Xi Jinping, Putin assured that he wanted to end the war “as soon as possible” and accused Kyiv of “refusing any negotiation process”, but later said that the offensive would continue. “The plan does not require changes … We are not in a hurry,” he said on Friday.

UN member states on Friday exceptionally authorized President Zelensky to address the General Assembly next week via video link, despite Russian opposition.