After the liberation of the Kharkiv region from Russian invaders, Russian propagandists increasingly draw parallels between the tragedy in Bucha and the mass graves in Izium.

In telegram channels, they spread theses that everything is not so simple and that one should not believe the Ukrainian authorities, who are promoting themselves on dug up graves, because the Russians have nothing to do with the murders in Izium.

We explain the messages about the burials in Izium which the propagandists came up with:

1. The leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine refused to take the bodies of the dead Ukrainian soldiers from the morgue from Izium. The Russians with the locals buried them in the local cemetery.

If the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine delayed the operation to transfer the bodies of the dead soldiers from the occupied Izium, there could be only one reason for this - the constant shelling of the city by the Russians.

On one of the crosses in the forest is written: "AFU, 17 people, the city of Izium, from the morgue". At the same time, some of the graves are without crosses.

In addition, burials of about 20 Ukrainian servicemen with their hands tied were found nearby. This may indicate that they were in captivity, said the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights Dmitro Lubinets in his Telegram.

2. Civilians of Izium died from Ukrainian shells arriving in the private sector. The Russians fought only on the outskirts of the city.

Since the beginning of March, people have died daily in Izium as a result of Russian airstrikes and bombings. Already on March 6, the Russian military was in the villages near Izium and tried to capture the city, and when they failed to shell the residential areas. And so it went on until April 1, until the Russians captured Izium.

3. Ukrainian authorities tear up the graves in the cemetery to show as many victims as possible.

In the forest near the cemetery, a mass grave of about 500 people who died during the occupation was discovered. Many crosses are knocked down from boards. Some have inscriptions - the surname and date of death, and mostly the serial number is indicated on the crosses. Judging by the date of death, at least some of the civilians died during the shelling of Izium by the Russian army. Currently, search groups are exhuming unmarked and mass graves.

4. Journalists were called to the cemetery to create a huge news story.

During the exhumation, Ukrainian and foreign journalists are indeed present but not to evoke emotions, but to show the world Russian crimes in the cities where the occupiers enter.

5. Zelenskyi will use the Izium case to get the West to tighten sanctions and Ukraine to receive more financial and military assistance.

It was the Russian military who attacked Izium and occupied the city, killing and torturing the locals. The world needs to know what war crimes and genocide Russia has committed in Ukraine.

6. Ukrainian authorities are using the mass graves in Izium as an explanation for why Zelenskyi is not negotiating with Putin. Like, Putin is ready for negotiations and the completion of the military operation can positively affect the lives of ordinary Europeans.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that negotiations with Russia are possible only if Russian troops leave the illegally occupied territory of Ukraine. Mass graves in Izium do not affect his decision.

7. Yermak published a photo of the graves from Izium where the date of death is March 9. That is, these people were tortured and executed by the Ukrainians themselves.

The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andrii Yermak published a photo of the graves of an entire family who died on March 9 in a house as a result of a Russian air bomb. At least 44 people died under the rubble of the house.

Daria Herasymchuk, an adviser to the President's Office for Children's Rights and Child Rehabilitation, said that the Russians killed six members of the same family of three generations - Olena and Dmitro Stolpakov, little Sasha and Lesia, and Olena's parents Tetiana and Oleksandr. “Lesia Stolpakova, five years old. The Russians killed her on March 9, along with her mother, father and eight-year-old sister Sasha. Lesia's parents died very young. Mom Olena Stolpakova turned only 31 on February 1, and dad Dmytro - 33. Private entrepreneurs sold children's clothes and owned an online gift store. They raised two daughters. The family lived a happy, peaceful life until Russian troops came to kill Ukrainian civilians”, added Daria Herasymchuk.

8. The picture of the bones with yellow-blue ribbons was drawn even before the excavations, so it coincided and the artist guessed right.

A body with a yellow-blue bracelet on its arm was found in a mass grave.

With reference to the statement of the Russian consul in the Slovak Republic Ihor Bratchykov, Slovak websites that regularly distribute Russian propaganda wrote about this. Allegedly, in the Slovak village of Ladomyrov, two months ago, at the direction of the village headman, “with the help of a bulldozer, the burial place of soldiers of the tsarist army was razed to the ground”.

The police of the Slovak Republic called it an outright lie. The head of the Ladomyrov village, Vladyslav Tsuper, also absolutely denied the destruction of the cemetery.

According to him, the military cemetery of the dead soldiers of the Russian tsarist army during the First World War was equipped by the municipality in 2014. A chapel was erected at the cemetery, wooden crosses were installed. Concrete curbs were cemented into the ground around the crosses. “Recently, we chose only these borders – for better care of the territory”, the head of the village says about the situation at the military cemetery. The curbs made it difficult to clean and mow the grass. No grave was damaged - this can be seen in the photographs.

But Russian propagandists need to constantly come up with fakes, so they do not disdain anything in their business, writes Mukachevo.net.

A video from the Holy Trinity Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in the village of Mala Komyshuvakha, not far from Izium, liberated after the Russian occupation, was distributed in a telegram by Russian propagandists, in particular, Volodymyr Soloviov and the Wise Thoughts | Orthodox magazine. Like, the Armed Forces of Ukraine set up a dirty barracks in an Orthodox church, “the holy altar is disgraced”.

They were not stopped by the fact that the video was signed by @Pravda_Herashchenko, that is, from the telegram channel of the adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Herashchenko.

On September 14, Anton Herashchenko was in Izium with a group of foreign journalists during the flag-raising with the participation of Volodymyr Zelenskyi. On September 15, on his telegram channel, he published a video from the temple near Izium.

“The Rashists have turned the temple in Izium into a pigsty hospital. Details: judging by the situation, the wounded were buried right here by their commanders. As usual with orcs, the church turned into a barn. Ukrainians do not even keep animals in such conditions. No one doubts that the “second army of the world” has come to us to fight against the civilian population, schools, hospitals and churches”, wrote Herashchenko.

On September 6, in the morning report of the General Staff, it was reported that the Russians use the Holy Trinity Church in the village of Mala Komyshuvakha as a field hospital.

On September 10, the Ukrainian military liberated Izium. Later, during an inspection of the temple, the fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shocked the “military hospital” of Russian infidels in the Kharkiv region: “A putrid stench and complete unsanitary conditions”.

This is not the first time Russian propagandists have attributed to Ukrainian soldiers the mess that their army actually made. But before, at least they didn’t steal the video filmed during the inspection by the Ukrainian military of the territory liberated from the Russians.