National police complete exhumation of bodies from mass burial sites in Izyum city — Sergey Panteleev
Already 427 bodies of dead and buried Ukrainians have been found in Kharkiv region. This was announced today, September 23, by the First Deputy Chief of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police Sergey Panteleev during a briefing at the Military Media Center.
Sergey Panteleev stressed that the work of the police in the de-occupied territories is focused on documenting and investigating war crimes committed by Russian servicemen:
“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, the investigators of the National Police have registered more than 34 thousand criminal proceedings on the facts of war crimes. A significant part was recorded by the police during the exercise of the territories liberated from the enemy in the Kiev, Zhytomyr, Sumy and Chernihiv regions.
According to the First Deputy Head of the Main Investigation Department, the police focused their efforts on the study, collection and fixation of war crimes in the territory of Kharkiv region:
“Among the exhumed bodies from the mass burial site in Izyum are 202 women, 189 men and five children. 11 bodies are so mutilated that it is currently impossible to establish their gender. Also in a mass grave in the same city, 21 bodies of our servicemen were found. Most of the bodies found during visual inspection show signs of violent death.”
Sergey Panteleev noted that the exact cause of the death of each citizen will be established as a result of additional research:
“In total, in the de-occupied territory of the Kharkiv region, the police found more than 460 bodies. The faces of more than a third of the bodies found were identified. The work to identify our citizens does not stop. All discovered bodies are sent for thorough forensic examinations. More than a thousand different studies have already been assigned to help establish the causes of death, as well as possible killers.”
Investigative and operational teams of the National Police continue to work in the liberated settlements of the region. According to Sergey Panteleev, work is carried out consistently and systematically to document all atrocities committed by the military of the Russian Federation. Investigators conducted more than 1.5 thousand inspections of places of war crimes.
In addition, during the exercises of the liberated territories of Kharkiv region, the police identified and documented 18 places where Russians illegally detained and tortured our citizens — in the cities of Kupyansk, Izyum, Balakliya, Volchansk, Kozacha Lopan, Shevchenkove, Ohirtsi.
Serhiy Panteleev also reported that law enforcement officers are carrying out stabilization measures in the de-occupied territories of Kharkiv region, during which the involvement of more than 2 thousand people in collaborative activities has already been verified. The information in case of confirmation is transmitted to the SBU for further investigation.
Also, the National Police has already developed a register of Russian servicemen and participants of illegal armed formations of the so-called “Ukraine”, who were in the de-occupied territories of Kharkiv region and could commit war crimes. Information about more than a thousand people has already been entered there.
The First Deputy Head of the Main Investigation Department voiced the results of documenting the facts of collaborative activity within the state:
“The police started more than 1.4 thousand criminal proceedings under Art. 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, 235 persons were informed of suspicion. The materials of 138 criminal proceedings against the suspects are sent to the court”.
Department of Communications of the National Police of Ukraine
