INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ukrainian investigators descended on a pine forest outside the recaptured town of Izium on Friday 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 centers" after the Kharkiv region was recaptured from
Russian invaders.In the forest outside Izium, AFP journalists saw graves topped with makeshift crosses and marked with numbers, with one
inscription reading: "Ukrainian army, 17 people
Izium morgue.""Russia leaves only death and suffering
Torturers," said Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky
Some of the remains exhumed, he said, included children and people who were likely tortured before dying.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 Izium 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.On the main road from Izium to
Kharkiv, a small dirt road leads into a pine forest
On the right-hand side of the lane, about 100 meters (330 feet) into the trees, two men in white overalls were digging the sandy soil.Soon
they reached the first body, exhumed it and placed it in a white plastic body bag
As more bodies appeared, the strong smell of decay spread among the trees and rough wooden crosses.'Witnesses'Where identification had been
possible, names were attached to the crosses along with dates between early March, when Izium was still held by Ukraine, and early
September, a period of Russian control.On some of the graves, small offerings of flowers were placed in homage to the deceased.According to
Oleg Kotenko, the government official in charge of the search for missing persons nationwide, a family with a young child was buried
There are witnesses from the same building
They saw what happened and buried these people here," he said.According to Kotenko: "The graves without names are for those found dead in
the street."The United Nations in Geneva said it hopes to send a team to determine the circumstances of the deaths in the forest
graves.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.German military revampThe 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 U.S
military aid for Ukraine.Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the United States has provided Kyiv with more than $15 billion in
military support, including long-range precision rocket systems.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 defense 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.Haunted by two world wars,
Germany has always trod lightly and quietly on the world stage when it comes to conflicts and armament.Kyiv gained EU candidacy status in
June, angering Moscow which has tried to retain political and military influence since the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades
ago.'New centers of power'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 kilometers (miles) of territory.EU countries have also hit Russia with economic
disrupted by the invasion.Rosneft's German subsidiaries, which account for about 12% of oil refining capacity in the country, were placed
under trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency, the economy ministry said.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.Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meanwhile called for
a shake-up of the world order as they met with Asian leaders for a summit challenging Western influence.Putin hailed what he called the
growing influence of "new centers of power" at the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan.
