Ukraine authorities have claimed to find 440 bodies in a mass grave inside a forest near the city of Izium that was under Russian occupation for months and was recaptured by the Ukraine forces recently. Media reports quoted a Ukrainian official named Serhiy Bolvinov as saying that the authorities will carry out a forensic investigation on each body to ascertain their identities and cause of death. Many may have died due to shelling and air strikes. He said it is the largest burial site found in any town recently liberated by Ukraine.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has compared the new mass grave with that found in Bucha earlier this year.
"There should be more information -- clear, verified information -- tomorrow," Zelensky in a video address to the nation.
"We want the world to know what is really happening and what the Russian occupation has led to," he added.
Hundreds of civilians were found dead on the streets in Bucha near Kyiv earlier this year. Many more were found in mass graves, sending shockwaves across the world. Ukraine had accused Russia of killing civilians in cold blood.
Russia, however, denied the allegations and termed them Ukrainian propaganda.
The new finding comes as the Ukrainian forces mounted an intense counteroffensive against the Russians, driving them out of many cities they had been occupying for several months.
Several countries including the UK, the US, Canada, and the European Union have condemned Russia's military invasion in Ukraine and imposed crippling sanctions on Moscow. However, the sanctions have hurt several European countries' energy security, precipitating crippling inflation in most of the world.
With inputs from ANI
