Ukraine war: Zelenskyy raises flag in recently recaptured Izium
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy watched as his country’s flag was hoisted in Izium, a city recently recaptured from the retreating Russians.
They left the war-scarred city last week after a lightning Ukrainian counteroffensive saw Kyiv reclaim large parts of the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Zelenskyy, with his hand on his heart, looked on and sang the national anthem as the flag was raised in front of a burned-out city hall building.
“The view is very shocking but it is not shocking for me," Zelenskyy told the press. "Because we began to see the same pictures from Bucha, from the first de-occupied territories … the same destroyed buildings, killed people.”
Russian forces withdrew from Bucha, near Kyiv, early on in the war. The city came to global attention after the bodies of civilians -- many showing signs of torture -- were found dumped in the streets.
Prosecutors said they have found six bodies with traces of torture in recently retaken villages in the Kharkiv region.
“We have a terrible picture of what the occupiers did. ... such cities as Balakliia, Izium are standing in the same row as Bucha, Borodyanka, Irpin,” said Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, listing the names of places where the Ukrainians have alleged Russian forces committed atrocities.
"Earlier, when we looked up, we always looked for the blue sky," Zelenskyy added on social media. "Today, when we look up, we are looking for only one thing - the flag of Ukraine. Our blue-yellow flag is already flying in the de-occupied Izium. And it will be so in every Ukrainian city and village."
On the northern outskirts of Izium, the remains of Russian tanks and vehicles lay shattered along the road.
Zelenskyy said that as Ukrainian soldiers retook villages, "the
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