Izium mass grave

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See also Bucha massacre

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Summary

There have been numerous reports that Ukraine is trying to manufacture a Bucha-style press campaign after their troops entered Izium (including people detained by Ukraine in captured area on on minor pretexts, or none at all) (sample: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Western mass media is eager to pick up the Ukrainian version of the story, in addition to shamelessly promoting and cheering up their side in general.

Accusation sources

Ukrainian

Western Media

“My daughter had a chronic illness from childhood and was disabled, and she didn’t survive all this. It was impossible to get the medicines she needed, and she fell into a coma and died in May. She was 32,” says Lilia, as she tries to find her daughter’s makeshift grave among the hundreds in the forest and to ensure she will have a proper burial. Locals describe how the occupation administration of Russians and collaborators allowed a funeral home to collect the dead and inter them in the forest near an existing cemetery but would not allow funerals; relatives were barred from the area and were merely told the number of the simple wooden cross on their family member’s grave.
Asked if he could say how the victims had died, he responded: "We know that some were killed [shot dead], some died because of artillery fire, so-called mine explosion traumas. Some died because of airstrikes. Also we have information that a lot of bodies have not been not identified yet. So the reasons of death will be established during the investigations.

Subsequent 'OSINT' supporting claims

The report purports to follow up on allegations of torture, such as those in this HRW piece. Which generally consisted of quotes from alleged victims and photos of locations said to have been used. But in general without photos, video etc of these victims or any scars they might have acquired. At one location there is graffiti with the symbol of Dirlewanger SS brigade.
The Information Resilience report points to footage of LPR and DPR forces in the area, and connects it to locations (school compounds) but nothing more. --Diagonal (talk) 13:51, 14 July 2024 (UTC)

Timeline: Bodies in Izium/Kharkiv oblast

  • March 3 Aftermath of shelling of Izium captured on mobile footage eg. [1],[2]
  • March 10 Video: Footage of civilian evacuation of Izium
  • March 13 Relatively little is known about the situation inside the city of Izyum. Much of it has been destroyed after two weeks of intense fighting and Izyum's mayor, Valerii Marchenko, estimates some 20,000 are still trapped inside the city. Mr Marchenko fled the city on 13 March in an organised convoy of 60 buses, but many residents remained in Izyum and he says they have been cut off ever since...People have been hiding in shelters for the past few weeks. They are getting sick and dying and you can't bury them. There are a lot people under the rubble of big buildings… Sky News
  • March 18: Ukraine, Russia agree on 9 humanitarian corridors for March 18 The Kyiv Independent. Moreover, Ukraine plans to deliver humanitarian aid to Balakleya and Izyum in the Kharkiv Oblast, New Indian Express
  • March 22 Amnesty International publishes report (pdf) on Humanitarian Situation in Izium since Feb 28.
  • April 18 Guardian - Before the Russian occupation, local authorities managed to evacuate part of the population. But according to officials, approximately 10,000 to 15,000 citizens remain trapped, their fate uncertain. “We cannot know for sure, because about 1,000 civilians were killed in airstrikes, artillery shelling and bombings,” said Marchenko. “The last centralised evacuation was on 10 March. We organised a green corridor with 60 buses. Humanitarian aid flowed in and people fled on those buses.
  • May 3: Dreizin Report Based on extensive prisoner accounts, today, we may confidently say that the majority, perhaps SIZEABLE majority, of Ukrainian forces deployed to the northern sector—with fighting primarily between Kharkov city and the Russian border, and then Izium southeast to Yampol’—were NOT in uniform as of February. They are mobilized inactive-reservists, draftees, or (deployed from their home regions, in violation of their contracts) Territorial Defense militia.
Image search results
And by the way, I know about a couple of mass graves around Izum, which Zelensky is talking about now, playing a new Buch.
These are the twin graves of those whom the Kiev commanders refused to take. Under Suligovka, Dolgenky, Kamyshevakha.
Then the Ukrainian command went out in touch, offered a humanitarian pause, guaranteed security. Just take your corpses. In response, only mats.
What remained was collected and buried in common graves. " ("PP" On the screenshots - footage from the video, in which soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the UNM LDNR collect the remains of dodgers and bury them in common graves near the city cemetery of Izyum).
AND. Medvedev: "Yes, in fact, we published a video from those places back in May. Exactly the situation that the colleague is talking about - the bodies of the soldiers of the Armed Forces were abandoned by their command in the fields to eat the beasts. Ours took out the bodies of the dead enemies under enemy fire. Because for the Russian enemy, he is an enemy with weapons so far. "
And they buried them in mass graves only because the Ukrainian military refused to pick up the bodies.
In general, I have a suspicion that exhumation is now taking place in the very place that appears on the May video ("PP" Yes, it’s easy, because, as practice has shown, for the blood of a corpse is only props, no more!).
  • September 20: @Malinka1102 - #Ukraine #Zelensky Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights D. Lubinets denied entry to #Izyum cemetery to journalists from leading Western media

Evidential issues

  • September 20: @Malinka1102 - #Ukraine #Zelensky Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights D. Lubinets denied entry to #Izyum cemetery to journalists from leading Western media

Analysis

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