War in Ukraine. The horrors of war by Izium

A church heavily damaged by Russian military strikes in the village of Mala Komyshyvakha in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, January 21, 2026.

Cars drive along a road covered with an anti-drone net in Izum, Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, December 12, 2025.

Residents carry humanitarian aid at the site of apartment buildings damaged during Russian missile strikes in the town of Balakliia, Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, November 17, 2025.

A building hit by a Russian missile strike in Izium, Ukraine, February 4, 2025.

A view shows a bomb crater and residential buildings destroyed by a Russian air strike in the village of Borova, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine March 6, 2024.

The battered townscape of Izium, where more than 5,000 houses and 120 apartment blocks have been damaged or destroyed. Dec. 16 2023.

A local resident Mykola, 68, walks amidst the debris at a site of a farm that was destroyed last year by Russian military strike in the village of Kamianka in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, November 8, 2023.

The sun sets over a destroyed building in Izyum in Ukraine's Kharkiv region on October 24, 2023.

A grain storage that was destroyed during combat in the village of Dovhenke, Izium Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, 2 September 2023.

A view of debris of apartment complex, where 54 people were killed by Russian shelling, in Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine on July 9.

An apartment building destroyed by Russian shelling on the outskirts of Izium, Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, April 21, 2023.

Local resident Mykola Lobko, 72, stands among the remains of his house destroyed last year by a military strike in the village of Studenok in Izium Raion in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, April 10, 2023.

An aerial view shows residential buildings damaged by shelling in Izyum, Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, on February 21, 2023.

Ukrainian doctor Yurii Kuznetsov walks through the destroyed surgery section of the hospital in Izium, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2023. Russian attacks have devastated Ukraine's health care system, raining down explosions upon hospitals and ambulances at a rate of nearly two a day for the past year, according to a study that attempted to document each strike.

A family is seen outside of a destroyed apartment building in Izium.

Andriy Pleshan, 60, views the destruction near his cellar in Izyum, in eastern Ukraine, on January 2. The 70-square-meter cellar where he continues to live also provided sanctuary during World War II.

A Ukrainian man spent months digging through the wreckage of an apartment block to find the body of a close friend from his school days. Pavlo Holub lives in Izyum, and he carried out this work during the six-month Russian occupation of the town before it was liberated by Ukrainian forces in September. During this time, Holub says he was also ordered by a Moscow-appointed official to bury 17 Ukrainian soldiers in a mass grave.

A resident walks past heavily damaged buildings in the Ukrainian town of Izyum, Kharkiv region, on November 25.

Ukrainian soldiers remove metal structure pieces as they work on a bridge damaged during fighting with Russian troops in Izium, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. A series of embarrassing military losses for Moscow in recent weeks has presented a growing challenge for prominent hosts of Russian news and political talk shows scrambling to find ways to paint Kyiv's gains in a way that is still favorable to the Kremlin.

The wreckage of a Russian fighting aircraft shot down by the Ukrainian Armed Forces during a counteroffensive operation in a field near the town of Izium, Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 30, 2022.

Firefighters and Ukrainian army soldiers search for bodies of people killed during a Russian attack among the remains of a building beside a TV tower in the recently liberated town of Izium, Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 28, 2022.

Flowers beside a destroyed building in the recently liberated town of Izium, Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 27, 2022.

Margaryta Tkachenko, 29 years old, feeds her 9-month-old daughter Sophia in the recently retaken town of Izium, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022.

A Ukrainian serviceman passes by a destroyed Russian tank near the village of Dolyna, Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 23, 2022.

Local resident Yuriy Zdorovets, 42, looks at a cross from a destroyed church in the village of Kamyanka, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 22, 2022.

Destroyed Russian cars in the village of Savyntsi, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 21, 2022.

A destroyed building in the town of Izium, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 20, 2022.

Local residents collect wood for heating from a destroyed school where Russian forces were based, in the recently retaken area of Izium, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. Residents of Izium, a city recaptured in a recent Ukrainian counteroffensive that swept through the Kharkiv region, are emerging from the confusion and trauma of six months of Russian occupation, the brutality of which gained worldwide attention last week after the discovery of one of the world's largest mass grave sites.

A destroyed bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River near the town of Balakliia, recently liberated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 18, 2022.

Damaged houses in the town of Izium, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 17, 2022.

Izyum, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. After russian occupation. No electricity, no water, no heating, no mobile communications. September 16, 2022.

A destroyed Russian multiple rocket launch system inside a farm in the village of Nova Husarivka (near Balaklia), recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 15, 2022.

A military vehicle near a destroyed bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River in the town of Izium, recently liberated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces during a counteroffensive operation, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 15, 2022.

A destroyed Russian tank in Izium, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 14, 2022.

Destroyed civilian cars on a road near the town of Balakliia, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 13, 2022.

Local residents crowd near a car distributing humanitarian aid in the town of Balakliia, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 13, 2022.

A local resident reacts as she waits for a car distributing humanitarian aid in the village of Verbivka, Izium Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, September 13, 2022.

A Ukrainian flag waves above the City Hall in Izium, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces Tuesday, pressing deeper into occupied territory and sending more Kremlin troops fleeing ahead of the counteroffensive that has inflicted a stunning blow on Moscow's military prestige.

A Ukrainian soldier passes by a Russian tank damaged in a battle in a just freed territory on the road to Balakleya in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022.