Ukrainian authorities discover mass grave with over 400 bodies in city of Izium

(Image credit: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

published 16 September 2022

Ukrainian authorities have uncovered a mass grave with over 440 bodies in the eastern city of Izium, Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced Friday, per CNN.

Izium was recently recaptured from Russian forces, after having been "subject to intense ... artillery attacks" in the spring, CNN writes. The city, nestled near the border between the Kharkiv and Donetsk regious, served as an "important hub" for Putin's offensive "during five months of occupation."

Some of the victims in the mass grave were killed by gunfire, while others died of "so-called mine explosion traumas," Serhii Bolvinov, Kharkiv's chief police investigator, told the United Kingdom's Sky News, per CNN. "Some died because of airstrikes," he continued. "Also we have information that a lot of bodies have not been identified yet. So the reasons of death will be established during the investigations." The buried corpses were also "mostly civilians," according to Ukraine's Center for Stategic Communications, and showed some signs of torture, adds The Associated Press.

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Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.

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