In Izium 447 bodies exhumed, many women and children

On 23 September, the exhumation of those murdered by the Russian occupiers from a mass burial was completed in the liberated city of Izium in Kharkiv Oblast; a total of 447 bodies, including children, were exhumed.

Source: Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram; Serhii Panteleiev, First Deputy Chief of the Main Investigative Department of the National Police, in a briefing in Military Media Center on 23 September; Ihor Klymenko, Head of the National Police of Ukraine, on Facebook

Quote from Klymenko: "The exhumation of bodies at the mass burial site in Izium has been completed. The work took place over the course of the past week, without breaks. A total of 447 bodies were exhumed from the graves. Among them, there are 215 women, 194 men, 5 children and 22 military personnel. In addition, remains of 11 other persons have been exhumed, but their sex could not be established."

Details: Syniehubov said that most of the exhumed bodies have signs of violent death, and 30 have torture marks. There are bodies with ropes around their necks, with bound hands, with broken limbs, and with gunshot wounds. Several men have amputated genitalia.

Panteleiev said that at the time of his report, 427 bodies of the dead had been unearthed: 202 were women, 189 were men, and five were children.

He added that 11 bodies were so mutilated that police could not even determine their gender; however, forensic experts will handle this.

According to Panteleiev, the exact cause of death of each citizen will be established as a result of additional expert research.

Synehubov said that the circumstances of each person's death will also be clarified, so that "their relatives and friends will learn the truth, and the murderers will be punished."

He added that, unfortunately, such a mass burial is not unique in Izium: at least three more such places have already been found in this area, and there are also burials in other liberated cities of Kharkiv Oblast.

According to Panteleiev, as of 23 September, the police found a total of over 460 bodies of dead Ukrainians in the liberated territory of the Kharkiv Oblast. So far, the identities of more than a third of them have been identified,  and work to identify the dead is ongoing.

He also added that over 1,000 criminal investigations and examinations have already been scheduled, which will help establish the causes of death, as well as the possible murderers of Ukrainians.