In picturesTo drive through Izium today, a year after its liberation by the Ukrainian armed forces, is to see the remnants of hell. The town, which had 45,000 residents before the Russian invasion, is still scarred by the extent of the Russian shelling.
Izium, a town whose name means "raisin" in Ukrainian and Russian, fell to the Russians on April 2, 2022, after a month of fierce fighting and daily bombardments by the Russian air force, which destroyed 80% of homes and killed several hundred civilians. Five months of Russian occupation and the dispersal of the vast majority of the population have made it impossible to count the number of victims accurately. Local authorities estimate that around a thousand civilians have been killed.
A fisherman uses a log to cross the Siverskyi Donets River, which flows through Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDE
Situated on the Siverskyi Donets River, Izium formed a lock that the Russian army wanted to seize at all costs to move southward and pincer the Donbas. Because of its geographical position on the road between Kharkiv and Sloviansk, Izium had already been the site of crucial battles during WWII, including a crushing Soviet defeat in the early summer of 1942. The "decommunization" of the town in 2016, which saw Lenin Square transformed into John Lennon Square, did nothing to change its tragic fate.
Izium was one of the few major cities, along with Mariupol and Kherson, to be conquered by the Russian army in the spring of 2022. As in every Russian-occupied town in Ukraine, exactions, rapes, torture, and summary executions were committed. The lightning liberation of the town during the counteroffensive of September 2022 led to some macabre discoveries. In a pine forest north of Izium, authorities found the graves of 471 Ukrainians buried during the Russian occupation on September 16, 2022. They immediately proceeded to exhume them.
On September 16, 2022, in the pine forest near Izium, Ukraine, a few days after the city's liberation by Ukrainian forces, the graves of 471 Ukrainians buried during the Russian occupation were discovered. The authorities then proceeded to exhume them. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDE
Today, the town still struggles to get by. The bridges over the Siverskyi Donets River have not been rebuilt, and soldiers and civilians use makeshift pontoons. Without a budget, the mayor's office is doing its utmost to restore vital services: Water, gas, electricity, and window repairs. A handful of restaurants and grocery stores have reopened, but the local economy is still at a standstill. The war continues and the Russian threat remains close: The front is 50 kilometers from the town, beyond the Oskil, a tributary of the Siverskyi Donets. The din of explosions from the east is still heard deafeningly, but now only in wet weather, in the silent suburbs. In the city center, the sounds of urban life have taken over.
During the Russian occupation, 30-year-old Konstantin Vitaliyovych was interrogated twice and tortured before escaping. On his return, he applied for the position of bus station manager "so that his daughter could say later that it was her father who rebuilt the bus station." Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEA volunteer helps a Ukrainian woman in front of the public humanitarian center in Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. Open since the city's liberation in September 2022, the center also offers personal assistance and support services. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEClothes on a table for the inhabitants of Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. Sometime after the city's liberation, the municipality reduced the supply of humanitarian aid to encourage residents to work. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEA truck carrying a Ukrainian military vehicle on the outskirts of Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. Every day, numerous military convoys pass through the town on their way to the front line, some 50 kilometers away. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEA room in the pediatric ward of the partially destroyed hospital in Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. Despite the destruction, an intensive care unit has been brought back into service, as has a Magnetic Resonance Imaging department, housed in a container outside the hospital. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEIn the basement of the partially destroyed hospital in Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. During the Russian occupation, surgical operations were carried out in the hospital's underground shelter, which is still used in the event of an alert. The hospital employs half of its pre-war staff. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDENight scene in Izium, Ukraine, on September 11, 2023. Street lighting is out of order, and some homes still lack gas or water. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDESvetlana, in one of the two restaurants she opened with her husband in Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. Originally from Kharkiv, the couple started working in Izium in October 2022 and moved there in March 2023. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEUkrainian workers renovate the administrative building destroyed by the Russian army in downtown Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDE"Life goes on": A work by street artist Gamlet Zinkivsky, originally from Kharkiv, in downtown Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEYulia Donchenko, director and teacher at the Academy of Music, built in 1820 in Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. Before the Russian occupation, 210 students were enrolled. Today, half of them study by distance learning. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEModern dance teacher Nathalya and one of her pupils in her apartment in Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. Numerous extracurricular activities are organized at home or in alternative venues replacing the institutions destroyed by the war. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEA city bus in downtown Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEYoung Ukrainians on Kremenets Hill, Izium, Ukraine, on September 11, 2023. During the Russian occupation, residents tried to get a telephone network on the city's heights. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEUkrainians practicing football at a stadium in downtown Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. The town is slowly being rebuilt one year after the liberation, and its residents are gradually returning. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEDowntown Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDEOne year after the liberation, life was slowly returning to Izium, Ukraine, on September 12, 2023. Without a budget, the municipality has given priority to rebuilding infrastructure and buildings. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR LE MONDE
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