Mass Burial in the Forest, Izium
The pine forest where the occupation hid 448 people under numbered crosses; exhumed in September 2022.
During the russian occupation of Izium from 8 March to 10 September 2022, in a pine forest on the edge of the town, the occupation authorities ordered the dead and the killed to be buried under wooden crosses bearing only numbers; the burial was discovered on 15 September after liberation, and exhumation went on from 16 to 23 September. By the updated data of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office and the National Police, 448 bodies and sets of remains were exhumed: 198 civilian men, 211 women, 25 soldiers, seven children; 140 showed signs of violent death, over 15 bore traces of torture. As of December 2025, 418 bodies have been identified, 30 remain unidentified, and identification by DNA continues. In all, the Ukrainian authorities estimate over a thousand civilians died during the occupation of Izium. There is no separate state memorial on site — every September the community honours the victims in the forest with candle lamps.
Open ground on the edge of the town, with no infrastructure. Izium is a frontline town under glide-bomb and drone strikes; visit only with safety and the curfew in mind.