Ukrainians search grave site; Russia likely extended locations it's prepared to strike, UK says

Residents of the Ukrainian municipality of Izium searched for dormant relatives successful a adjacent wooded sedate tract arsenic exigency workers continued to exhume what they said were hundreds of bodies recovered aft Russian forces were driven from the region.

The causes of decease for those astatine the sedate site, discovered past week, person not yet been established, though residents accidental immoderate died successful an airstrike.

Ukrainian authorities person said astatine slightest 1 of the bodies had tied hands and enactment marks connected the neck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said investigators had discovered caller grounds of torture utilized against the radical buried successful Izium, 1 of much than 20 towns retaken successful the northeastern Kharkiv portion aft a lightning beforehand earlier this month.

"More than 10 torture chambers person already been recovered successful the liberated areas of Kharkiv region, successful assorted cities and towns," Zelenskyy said successful a video code precocious connected Saturday.

"Torture was a wide signifier successful the occupied territories. That's what the Nazis did - this is what (the Russians) do," helium added. "They volition reply successful the aforesaid mode - some connected the battlefield and successful courtrooms."

Clutching a neatly written database of names and numbers, nonmigratory Volodymyr Kolesnyk stepped betwixt numbered graves looking for relatives helium said were killed successful an airstrike connected an flat gathering soon earlier Izium fell to Russian forces successful April.

He paused earlier a transverse marked with the fig 199 and aft checking the database fixed to him by a section ceremonial institution that dug the graves, cautiously hung a tiny motion connected it bearing the sanction of Yurii Yakovenko, his cousin.

Cross fig 164, helium said, was his cousin's wife. And 174, his cousin's mother, Kolesnyk's aunt.

"They buried the bodies successful bags, without coffins, without anything. I was not allowed present astatine first. (The Russians) said it was mined and asked to wait. And determination was a batch of them successful the woods, truthful it was scary to travel here," Kolesnyk told Reuters.

Moscow has not commented connected the find of the graves. It regularly denies committing atrocities successful the warfare oregon targeting civilians.

The caput of the pro-Russian medication that abandoned the country earlier this period accused Ukrainians of staging the atrocities astatine the metropolis of Izium. "I person not heard thing astir burials," Vitaly Ganchev told Rossiya-24 authorities television.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not responded to the accusations but helium brushed disconnected Ukraine's swift counteroffensive, casting Russia's penetration arsenic a indispensable measurement to forestall what helium said was a Western crippled to interruption Russia apart.

"The Kyiv authorities announced that they person launched and are conducting an progressive counteroffensive operation," Putin said connected Friday aft a acme of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation successful the Uzbek metropolis of Samarkand.  "Well, let's spot however it develops, however it ends up," helium said with a grin.

Putin has warned Moscow would respond much forcefully if its troops were enactment nether further pressure, raising concerns helium could astatine immoderate constituent usage unconventional means similar tiny atomic oregon chemic weapons.

U.S. President Joe Biden, what helium would accidental to Putin if helium was considering utilizing specified weapons, replied: "Don't. Don't. Don't. It would alteration the look of warfare dissimilar thing since World War Two." He made the remark successful a "60 Minutes" interview, a clip of which was released by CBS connected Saturday.

Russia has apt extended the locations it is prepared to strike, including targeting civilian infrastructure, successful a determination to undermine the morale of the Ukrainian authorities and people, the British military said connected Sunday.

Five civilians were killed successful Russian attacks successful the Donetsk portion implicit the past day, portion successful Nikopol respective twelve high-rise and backstage buildings, state pipelines and powerfulness lines were damaged by Russian strikes, the determination governors said separately connected Sunday.

Some subject analysts person warned Russian mightiness besides signifier a atomic incidental astatine the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia atomic powerfulness plant, Europe's largest.

Russia and Ukraine person blamed each different for shelling astir the works that has damaged buildings and disrupted powerfulness lines needed to support it cooled and safe.

One of the plant's 4 main powerfulness lines has been repaired and is erstwhile again supplying the works with energy from the Ukrainian grid, the United Nations atomic watchdog said connected Saturday. [nL1N30O07J]

Ukraine has besides launched a large violative to recapture territory successful the south, wherever it hopes to trap thousands of Russian troops chopped disconnected from supplies connected the westbound slope of the Dnipro river, and retake Kherson, the lone ample Ukrainian metropolis Russia has captured intact since the commencement of the war.

Russian information forces fired connected an equipped pack of criminals successful the centre of Kherson precocious connected Saturday and "neutralised" them, Tass quality bureau reported.

RIA quality bureau cited a information root arsenic saying the pack progressive had been a "sabotage and reconnaissance group" but gave nary details.