Moscow rejects war crimes allegations, calls discovery of hundreds of bodies in Izium a ‘lie’
The Kremlin called Monday a ” lies “ information about the discovery of hundreds of buried bodies and a mass grave in Izium, eastern Ukraine, after the withdrawal of Russian forces from the area.
” This is a lie. We will of course defend the truth in this matter.said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “It’s the same scenario as in Boutcha”he said again, referring to this other Ukrainian city, located near kyiv, where the Russian forces were accused of having committed abuses after the discovery of more than hundreds of bodies of civilians in the streets, in April.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, more than 440 graves and a mass grave were found last week near Izium, in the middle of a pine forest on the edge of this city taken over by the kyiv army from that of Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday denounced the crimes of an army of “torturers”.
According to the regional governor, Oleh Synehoubov, “ four hundred and fifty bodies of civilians bearing traces of violent death and torture,” that is “99%” bodies exhumed Friday, have been identified.
On Monday, the Kremlin spokesman also assured that the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014 by Russia, was “integral part of the territory of Russia”after Ukrainian officials repeated that they wanted to put an end to the“occupation” Russian. “Any sightings on Russian territory will receive an appropriate response”added Mr. Peskov.