Here's what we know so far:
- According to the AP report, the burial site, containing hundreds of graves, was discovered close to Izium after a rapid counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces liberated the northeastern city and other swaths of the Kharkiv region, breaking what was largely becoming a military stalemate in the nearly seven-month war.
- Most of the people buried at the site are civilians, Ukraine's police chief said, based on a preliminary estimate, according to Reuters report.
- Ukraine officials have said they feared discovering Russian war crimes in newly-liberated areas with Ukraine's police chief Igor Klymenko said during a briefing, the Interfax news agency reported, “I can talk about the presence of at least 10 torture centres in settlements" in the Kharkiv region. He said "two torture centres were found in Balakliya", a town in the northeast, according to AFP report.
- Meanwhile to keep the offensive going, the Biden administration announced another USD 600 million package of military aid on Thursday for Ukraine, including more of the weaponry that has helped its troops seize momentum, the AP report said.
- Associated Press journalists who visited the burial site Thursday counted hundreds of graves amid the trees, marked with simple wooden crosses, most of them numbered, up to 400 and beyond. Additionally, there was also at least one mass grave, with a marker saying it contained the bodies of 17 Ukrainian soldiers, the report said.
- Ukraine President Zelenskyy in his nightly televised address on Thursday, said “The necessary procedural actions have already begun there. We want the world to know what is really happening and what the Russian occupation has led to." He further invoked the names of other Ukrainian cities where authorities said retreating Russian troops left behind mass graves of civilians and evidence of possible war crimes.
- Ukraine President additionally made an urgent appeal to allies to supply additional air- and missile-defense systems that he said are crucial to repelling Russia’s invasion and preventing further disruption to food and energy supplies, according to Bloomberg report.
- It is worth noting that most of the people buried in a mass grave discovered in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izium are civilians, Ukraine's police chief said on Friday, based on a preliminary estimate, according to Reuters report.
- Russia has not publicly commented on the matter and its forces fled Izium during a major Ukrainian counter-offensive that retook most of the northeastern Kharkiv region in the past week, the report said.
(With inputs from AP, Bloomberg, Reuters)
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