Izium is a city, now almost totally destroyed, that lies southeast of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine on the road to Sloviansk in the Donbas. It is of strategic importance as a transportation node, being the main city between Kharkiv and Sloviansk, and being an important rail hub. During the second Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian Armed Forces launched an assault upon Izium and captured it by 1 April 2022. Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated the city on 10 September 2022 after intense fighting and the Russian Armed Forces collapsed as they could not stretch their logistics supply lines that far westwards; nor had they been able to take control of Kharkiv, the largest city in the region.
Outside Izium, several mass graves were found with hundreds of bodies in them, many of whom showed signs of violent execution, including torture, amputation of the genitals, being shot in the back of the head and having their hands tied behind their backs. The site is little visited now, and Izium is a shell of a city not far from the front line and by no means easy to visit. Nevertheless for those interested in the location of the Izium mass graves, this link takes you to a map location and they can be walked or driven to:
What follows is a photo diary of what to find at the Izium mass graves site, which receives very few visitors nowadays and even locally located members of the military are not sure where it is. It makes for sobering viewing. Lest we forget.
