Izium: 59 bodies exhumed at mass burial site

At the site of a mass burial in Izium, the town recently liberated from Russian invaders, where evidence of atrocities was discovered, law enforcers exhumed 59 bodies in the past two days.

That’s according to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ukrinform reports.

As noted, the bodies of 42 civilians (16 male, 26 female) and the bodies of 17 military servicemen were retrieved from the burial site," the statement reads.

A total of 105 police officers, 10 forensic laboratories, and 10 coroners with the Kharkiv Regional Coroners Bureau and 80 employees of the State Emergency Service are involved in the inquiry, which is underway.

Read also: EU condemns Russian atrocities in Izium - Borrell

The department recalled that on September 16, law enforcers encountered in a local forest strip 445 graves with crosses installed over them. 23 graves were exhumed, 22 bodies were recovered. Signs of torture were found on some of the bodies. A mass burial of Ukrainian Army servicemen was also discovered, holding 17 bodies.

On September 17, another 20 bodies were removed from the graves.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on September 6, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that more than 400 bodies, including those with signs of torture, were exhumed at the site of a mass burial in liberated Izium. Among the identified bodies are children and military servicemen.

Read also: Morawiecki on atrocities in Izium: Russia has returned to its gruesome past

As of September 16, law enforcers discovered 10 torture chambers in the territories liberated from the Russians in Kharkiv region, six of them in the town of Izium.