MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- Ukraine’s accusations that Russian forces carried out atrocities against soldiers and civilians in the recaptured eastern city of Izyum are a “lie,” the Kremlin said Monday.
Ukrainian officials said nearly all of the exhumed bodies in around 450 graves uncovered near Izyum last week showed signs of violent death.
“It’s a lie and of course we’ll stand up for the truth in this entire story,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday. “Kyiv is pushing the same scenario in Izyum as it did with the provocation in Bucha,” Peskov said.
Ukrainian forces reclaimed Izyum and other areas in the northeastern region of Kharkiv this month as part of a lightning counteroffensive.
President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed there would be no let-up in Ukraine’s fight to regain its territory as Kyiv said its troops had crossed a major river, paving the way for an assault on Russia’s forces in the eastern Donbas region.
The Oskil River flows south into the Siversky Donets, which snakes through the Donbas, the main focus of Russia’s operation.
Further beyond lies Luhansk province, the base for pro-Russia fighters since 2014 and fully in Russian hands since July after some of the war’s bloodiest battles.
Ukrainian troops “have pushed across the Oskil. From yesterday, Ukraine controls the east bank”, the Ukrainian Armed Forces wrote on Telegram late on Sunday.
Serhiy Gaidai, Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, wrote on Telegram: “Luhansk region is right next door. De-occupation is not far away.”
In recent days, the pace of the Ukrainian advance has again slowed, but Zelensky said this was only because the forces were consolidating and preparing for further offensives.