Outraged by Izyum Massacre, UWC Calls for Tribunal to Prosecute Russian War Crimes

United Nations, New York (September 23, 2022) – The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) is outraged by the discovery of another horrible set of war crimes committed by Russian troops in the city of Izyum, located in the recently-liberated areas of Kharkiv oblast in Ukraine.  

To date, nearly 500 bodies of primarily civilians, were exhumed from mass grave in a forest outside of Izyum. All of them bear signs of having met violent deaths, murdered in cold blood by the Russian military. Some of the bodies had their hands tied, while others were found mutilated from torture.  

“The massacre committed by the Russian military in Izyum, is another episode in the ruthless genocide that Russia is carrying out in Ukraine. In the recently-liberated areas of Kharkiv oblast, authorities are finding many mass burials of tortured civilians. Hundreds of Ukrainian men, women and children were killed in sadistic and inhumane acts. Just like the massacre in Bucha, this was no ‘accident’.  This is a planned and deliberate extermination of the Ukrainian people by the Russians,” stated Paul Grod, UWC President. 

The official investigation of Russian atrocities in Kharkiv oblast will continue. As Ukraine’s counter-offensive continues further to the east, a growing number of mass graves and “torture chambers” are being discovered in the liberated areas. Even after Bucha, Ukrainians are shocked to see the consequences of Russia’s five-month-long occupation in Kharkiv oblast. 

During the 77th UN General Assembly in New York, the Ukrainian World Congress called upon global leaders to make the decisions that will contribute to ending Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine, to take immediate action and create an International War Crimes Tribunal to prosecute the Russian federation, its leadership and everyone responsible and complicit in war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.  

“It seemed completely unimaginable that such heinous atrocities and war crimes could take place on Ukrainian soil in the 21st century. The Russian occupiers brought medieval terror and genocide to Ukrainian lands. We demand that all those responsible for these crimes against Ukraine and its people are held accountable, including the Russia’s highest political and military leadership!”, underscored Grod.