At least a thousand Izyum civilians died during the Russian occupation of the city. This was stated by the chairman of the Izyum City Council Maxim Strelnikov.
“Since the occupiers here, as in other places, committed war crimes, they tried to hide them. According to the information that we have, at least one thousand local residents died as a result of military operations. Unfortunately, even more, people suffered since they were not provided with timely medical care,†Korrespondent.net quotes Strelnikov.
According to the head of the City Council, one of the priorities now for the authorities is to provide residents with medicines and hospitalization of the sick and wounded. Another serious problem is the restoration of heating.
“More than 80% of the city's infrastructure has been destroyed. These are also private, multi-apartment residential buildings, state and municipal institutions, as well as industrial facilities. The worst thing is that winter is ahead. And the centralized heating, which was used by the majority of the residents, has been destroyed,†Strelnikov said.
Similar information was voiced by the mayor of Izyum Valery Marchenko in a conversation with the BBC. “Ever since March, when the occupiers bombed with planes and artillery, our city was defeated, high-rise buildings and infrastructure were damaged. Almost all boiler houses have been bombed, and the heating season is a big question mark. Almost 70% of high-rise buildings were damaged, and completely bombed. The situation is very difficult,†he said.
- The retreat of Russian troops from Izyum became known on September 10. Now, according to local authorities, “stabilization measures†are taking place in the city, in particular, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are cleaning up the territory in search of Russian military personnel. After that, “filtering†will take place on the city's territory to identify collaborators.
- At the end of August, the Ukrainian army launched a counteroffensive, and on September 9, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had liberated more than 30 cities and villages in the Kharkiv region, which had been occupied since spring. On September 11, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, announced that Ukraine had returned more than three thousand square kilometers of territory under its control.
