Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday visited an area of northeastern Ukraine that was recently retaken from Russian forces, witnessing largescale devastation as prosecutors claimed that local residents had been tortured and killed during the half-year occupation.
Russian forces left the war-scarred city last week as Ukraine pressed forward in a sweeping counteroffensive that has reclaimed vast swaths of territory in the country’s northeastern Kharkiv region in a matter of days.
As Zelenskyy visited Izium, the Ukrainian flag was raised in front of the burned-out city hall building in the largely devastated town.
Apartment buildings are blackened by fire and pockmarked by artillery strikes. The entire center of one residential building had collapsed, a gaping hole and piles of rubble where homes used to be.
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