Today, we were at the exhumation of bodies in Izium.

445 graves between the orc trenches and the old cemetery—locals who did not survive the assault on the city and the lack of heat, food and medications. Entire families wiped out by a single air strike. The first body we saw dug up had a rope around its neck. Many signs of torture on bodies. 17 Ukrainian soldiers with tattooed bodies. A godawful stench. I’d never seen so many forensic specialists at the same time. And this was nothing.

In Velyka Komyshuvakha, people’s remains had simply lain in the open for the entire summer, gnawed by stray dogs. Cows and pigs gone feral and blown up on mines in the forests and fields… This was definitely the hardest tour in the combat zone for me.

Artem, Izium