Another horrific site of a mass grave with bound bodies was discovered by the Ukrainians on Friday after Russian forces were driven out of Izium, a city in the north of Ukraine.
The bodies unearthed by the Ukrainian police and forensics had ropes around their necks with tied hands.
Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, many mass graves of civilians have been found in places where Russian forces had retreated.
The mass grave is located in a wooded area near the city, with around 440 bodies turning up during the search, according to the sources.
The Ilium mass grave site is speculated to be the biggest mass burial in Europe since the one found after the Balkan wars in the 1990s.Â
According to reports, the site was being worked on by the Ukrainian authorities to dig out the bodies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the actions of the Russian forces, calling for action to hold the Russians accountable.Â
Ilium was re-claimed by Ukraine after Russian soldiers abandoned the city, leaving behind weapons and ammunition.
According to Ukraine, a large number of the dead were civilians, with some soldiers among the bodies discovered.Â
Russia has continually denied any atrocities committed by its occupation forces and has pointed to a Ukrainian conspiracy to frame Russia.
Vitaly Ganchev, head of the pro-Russian administration, said that the killings were caused by Ukrainian forces and were trying to place the blame on Moscow.
He further compared the situation to the Bucha massacre, where hundreds of civilian bodies were found in March after Russian forces fled the city near Kyiv.
Russia has maintained that the killings were staged and that Russian forces have not committed any war crimes. These accusations are rejected by Ukraine and international investigators.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Zelenskyy, tweeted the pictures of the mass grave in Izium with the caption, “Anyone else wants to ‘freeze the war’ instead of sending tanks?”
The discovery of the mass grave in Izium is the latest development in the ongoing Ukraine war, whose end is not in sight.
