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Tag: Izyum

  • Zelensky wants ‘just punishment’ for Russia in the Ukraine war

    During his address to the UN General Assembly in New York, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia must receive “just punishment” for its invasion of Ukraine.

    The Ukrainian president demanded the establishment of a special war tribunal and described alleged war crimes committed by Russia in a pre-recorded video.

    He also set out a “formula”, including more military support and punishing Russia on the world stage.

    During his address to the UN General Assembly in New York, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia must receive “just punishment” for its invasion of Ukraine.

    The Ukrainian president demanded the establishment of a special war tribunal and described alleged war crimes committed by Russia in a pre-recorded video.

    r called up 300,000 reservists for duty.

    The move prompted rare protests in dozens of Russian cities and Mr Zelensky said the partial mobilization showed his enemy was not serious about peace talks. Monitoring group OVD-Info said 1,315 Russians had been arrested.

    The Kremlin said the call-up would be limited to those who had completed military service and had important skills and combat experience. But some of those arrested during protests in Moscow were also told they would have to sign up, reports say.

    The Ukrainian leader said creating a special tribunal would help hold Moscow to account for stealing territory and murdering thousands of people. His address on Wednesday received a standing ovation from many of the session’s attendees.

    Despite Russia’s decision to bolster its military campaign, the two sides took part in the biggest exchange of prisoners since the start of the war.

    In a deal brokered by Saudi Arabia, 215 fighters were returned to the Ukrainian side, including 10 foreigners – while Russia took back 55 soldiers. Pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvechuk was also part of the swap. He has been seen as President Putin’s closest ally in Ukraine and faced treason charges.

    Ukraine said that among those released were 108 members of the Azov battalion who for weeks defied Russia’s bombardment of Mariupol and the city’s steel plant.

    Battalion commander Denys Prokopenko and his deputy were among five senior officers freed. So too was Ukrainian military medic Mariana Mamonova, who is more than eight months pregnant and was being held in the notorious Olenivka prison in an area of eastern Ukraine held by Russian-backed separatists.

    She can be seen, looking heavily pregnant, in a video of the exchange released by Ukrainian authorities.
    SOURCE, UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT Image caption, A heavily pregnant Mariana Mamonova was seen in a video of the exchange released by Ukrainian authorities

    A fellow prisoner, who was released in July, told the BBC how the medic was forced to live in a cell with several other people, sleeping on the floor and going outside only once a day. Her husband had feared their baby would be taken away.

    Ten foreign prisoners held by Russian-backed forces were also released, including five British nationals and two Americans.

    In his UN address, Mr Zelensky condemned Russian plans to stage so-called referendums on joining Russia in occupied areas of Ukraine. The vote which is due to start on Friday has been widely condemned as a sham by Western leaders.

    He addressed the discovery of 445 new graves in Izyum, a northeastern city recently retaken from Russian forces during a sweeping Ukrainian counter-offensive.

    Mr Zelensky detailed allegations of war crimes in the city, including against one man said to have been castrated and murdered.

    “Why are the Russian military so obsessed with castration?” he asked.

    UN delegates stand and applaud President Zelensky's video address
    REUTERSImage caption, Zelensky’s words received a standing ovation from some quarters

    The word “punishment” cropped up some 15 times in Mr Zelensky’s speech and was the first of his five non-negotiable conditions for peace.

    Russia must face consequences for its aggression, he said, through further sanctions and by the UN stripping Moscow of its powerful role as a permanent Security Council member.

    He also called for Ukrainian lives to be protected, and for the country’s internationally-recognized borders to be respected.

    As his fourth and fifth conditions, he called for new security guarantees for Kyiv, and for the world to unite in calling out Moscow’s armed aggression.

    Later on Wednesday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said EU countries had agreed to hit Russia with new sanctions.

    Josep Borrell told reporters the new restrictions would target Russian individuals and the country’s economic sectors.

    Sporting his signature green T-shirt in his video, Mr Zelensky thanked the 101 countries at the UN which voted to allow him to address the assembly in a video rather than in person.

    He blasted the seven countries including Russia which voted against his video appearance and criticized those which have remained neutral during the conflict.

  • Ukraine war: Grave sites spark calls for a tribunal into Russian killings

    In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union leadership has called for an international tribunal.

    The appeal came from the Czech Republic, which is presently in charge of rotating the bloc’s presidency. It was made in response to the discovery of hundreds of graves in Izyum, a town that Ukrainian forces had just recaptured.

    It is said that many of them are civilians, including women and children.

    “We stand for the punishment of all war criminals,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said.

    Ukraine says it believes war crimes have been committed in Izyum, where 59 bodies have been exhumed so far – with more expected from the graves in a forest at the edge of the city.

    “In the 21st Century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent,” Mr Lipavsky said.

    “We must not overlook it. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals,” he said.

    “I call for the speedy establishment of a special international tribunal that will prosecute the crime of aggression.”

    In his regular address on Saturday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said investigators had discovered new evidence of torture used against the people buried in Izyum, in Kharkiv region.

    “More than 10 torture chambers have already been found in the liberated areas of Kharkiv region, in various cities and towns,” Mr Zelensky said.

    He said the Russians would have to answer “both on the battlefield and in courtrooms”.

    On Thursday, EU Commission President chief Ursula von der Leyen said she wanted Mr Putin to face the International Criminal Court over war crimes in Ukraine.

    Russia claims it is fighting to de-Nazify Ukraine, in a conflict it still refers to as a “special military operation” rather than a war.

    It has not commented on the burial sites at Izyum. Moscow has previously denied targeting civilians.

  • Ukraine war: Officials say that hundreds of graves have been discovered in the city of Izyum

    A few days after the town was retaken from Russia, Ukraine claims hundreds of burials have been discovered outside of Izyum.

    In a woodland outside of the town, advancing Ukrainian forces found wooden crosses, the majority of them bearing numbers.

    Authorities announced that some of the tombs would be opened for exhumation on Friday.

    Early reports indicate that some of the fatalities may have perished from shelling and a lack of access to healthcare, while it is yet unclear what happened to them.

    There are also signs that some of the graves could belong to Ukrainian soldiers.

    Regional police head Volodymyr Tymoshko told the BBC more than 400 bodies were thought to have been buried at the site.

    Izyum, invaded in the early days of the war, was used by Russia as a key military hub to supply its forces from the east.

    In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the “necessary procedural actions” had begun in the area.

    “We want the world to know what is really happening and what the Russian occupation has led to. Bucha, Mariupol, now, unfortunately, Izyum… Russia leaves death everywhere,” he said. “And it must be held accountable for that.”

    The Ukrainian leader was referring to alleged mass graves found this spring in Bucha, near the capital Kyiv, and also near Mariupol – the key south-eastern Ukrainian port now occupied by Russian troops.

    Andriy Yermak, the head of President Zelensky’s office, tweeted a photo of the alleged mass burial site, also saying that more information was expected on Friday.

    Much of Izyum lies in ruins, with one local politician telling reporters that up to 80% of the town’s infrastructure has been destroyed, and bodies are still being discovered in the rubble.

    Izyum and a number of other cities in the Kharkiv region were liberated earlier this month during a swift Ukrainian counter-offensive that appeared to have surprised Russian troops and left them unprepared to defend their positions.

    Ukraine says it has identified more than 21,000 possible war crimes – including killing civilians and rape – committed by Russian troops since President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of the country on 24 February.

    Investigators and journalists found what appeared to be evidence of the deliberate killing of civilians in Bucha and other nearby areas.

    Ukrainian forces said they found mass graves and evidence that civilians had been killed after their feet and hands were bound.

    The International Criminal Court has already sent a team of investigators and forensics experts to Ukraine to investigate this.

    US President Joe Biden and former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson have both accused Russia of carrying out war crimes in Ukraine.

    The Russian government has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, accusing Ukraine and the West of fabricating evidence.