Graves, ‘torture centres’ found in recaptured east

Ukrainian investigators descended on a pine forest outside the recaptured town of Izyum yesterday and began pulling hundreds of hastily buried bodies from the sandy soil.

At least one of the corpses had been buried with bound hands, an AFP journalist saw. Kyiv officials said they had counted 450 graves at the mass burial site and found 10 alleged "torture centres" after the Kharkiv region was recaptured from Russian invaders.

In the forest outside Izyum, AFP journalists saw graves topped with makeshift crosses and marked with numbers, with one inscription reading: "Ukrainian army, 17 people. Izyum morgue."

Kyiv's forces recovered a swathe of territory in recent days in a lightning counter-offensive in the east, liberating several towns from Russian forces but also uncovering what they say is a grim legacy of occupation.

Police chief Igor Klymenko said torture rooms were found in the town of Balakliya and elsewhere in Karkhiv, while presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said the Izyum mass grave site alone held at least 450 bodies.

"In the occupied territories, rampant terror, violence, torture and mass murders have been reigning for months," Podolyak said.

The United Nations in Geneva said it hopes to send a team to determine the circumstances of the deaths in the forest graves.

"Russia is leaving death behind it everywhere and must be held responsible," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address.

Russia has been accused of carrying out attacks on civilians that could amount to war crimes, notably in suburban towns outside the capital of Kyiv after fighting in March.

Dozens of civilians bearing signs of extrajudicial killings were found in places like Bucha, outside Kyiv, after they were recaptured by Ukraine's forces earlier this year.

The grim discoveries have coincided with fresh developments on the international front, including a White House announcement of a new package of up to $600 million in US military aid for Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned that Europe must shoulder far more of Nato's burden as he branded President Vladimir Putin's Russia the "biggest threat" currently posed to the alliance.

"Nato remains responsible for the collective defence of the entire alliance with a focus on Europe. Credible deterrence remains the core element," Scholz told army officers.

Germany was ready to take on a leading role in ensuring Europe's security, Scholz said, vowing to turn the country's armed forces into the "best-equipped" on the continent.

Many European countries have joined the United States in supplying Kyiv with advanced weapons, enabling its forces to push the Russians out of thousands of square kilometres of territory.

EU countries have also hit Russia with economic penalties. Berlin, for example, yesterday took control of the German operations of Russian oil firm Rosneft to secure energy supplies disrupted by the invasion.

The seizures come as Germany is scrambling to wean itself off its dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Moscow has stopped natural gas deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.