Russian Terror in Numbers: What the Mass Graves of Kharkiv Oblast Reveal Four Years On

Four years after the Kharkiv counteroffensive: Ukrainian Ombudsman releases consolidated data on mass graves and victims of the Russian occupation

At an event marking the fourth anniversary of the Kharkiv offensive operation, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, presented consolidated data on mass graves and on the victims of the Russian occupation of Kharkiv Oblast.

According to the Ombudsman’s report, a total of 981 bodies of the deceased were discovered in the de-occupied territory of Kharkiv Oblast. Of these, 774 were civilians. Among the civilian victims, 415 men, 293 women and 27 children have been identified; the sex of a further 39 persons could not be established.

The town of Izium became one of the most horrific crime scenes of the occupation. As of September 2022, 436 bodies had been exhumed there. The majority of the bodies recovered from the mass burial site in Izium bore signs of violent death, and 30 bodies showed clear traces of torture. Victims were found with their hands tied behind their backs, with ropes around their necks, with gunshot wounds and with broken limbs.

Dmytro Lubinets stressed that the Russian occupation is synonymous with systemic terror, the killing of civilians, unlawful detentions and enforced disappearances of people targeted for their pro-Ukrainian position or identity. All the evidence collected is being handed over to law enforcement authorities for the investigation of war crimes committed by the Russian Federation.