After Russian occupation, traumatized Ukrainian city emerges

By LORI HINNANT and VASILISA STEPANENKO
Associated Press

IZIUM, Ukraine (AP) — Izium, in far eastern Ukraine, was among the first cities taken by Russian forces after the war started on Feb. 24 and became a command center for the occupying forces. By early March, the city was almost completely isolated — no cell phones, no heat, no power. Residents didn’t know what was going on in the war, whether their relatives were alive, whether there was still a Ukraine. They were liberated Sept. 10 in a Ukrainian counteroffensive that swept through the Kharkiv region, but more than a week later residents are still emerging from the confusion and trauma of six months of occupation. The city gained attention last week after the discovery of one of the war’s largest mass grave sites.