The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been found in the region around the Ukrainian capital since Russia’s withdrawal – most of them fatally shot, police said on Friday, showing many people were “simply executed”.
The staggering number came shortly after Russia’s defense ministry promised to step up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to alleged Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory. The ominous warning follows the stunning loss of Moscow’s flagship in the Black Sea, which a senior US defense official said on Friday had indeed been hit by at least one Ukrainian missile.
Amid threats, Moscow is continuing preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting continues in the shattered southern port city of Mariupol, where locals say they have seen Russian soldiers dig up bodies. In the northeastern city of Kharkov, seven people were killed in a shelling of a residential area, including a 7-month-old child, and 34 were injured, according to District Governor Oleh Sinehubov.
The story continues under the ad
Read more: Russia bombs Kiev factory after Moscow warship sinks in Black Sea
Around Kyiv, Andriy Nebitov, head of the capital’s regional police, said the bodies had been abandoned on the streets or temporarily buried. He quoted police as saying that 95% had died from gunshot wounds.
“Therefore, we understand that during the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets,” Nebitov said.
More and more bodies are being found every day, under rubble and in mass graves, he added. Most victims were found in Bucha, where more than 350 were, he said.
According to Nebitov, public service officials in Bucha collected and buried bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Russian troops, he added, are “tracking” people who express strong pro-Ukrainian views.
More violence can be expected for Kyiv after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of injuring seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings by air strikes in Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine. Authorities in another Russian border region also announced Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.
2:17 Drone footage shows the extent of the destruction as the Ukrainians return to Borodyanka. The drone footage shows the degree of destruction, while the Ukrainians return to Borodyanka – April 8, 2022.
“The number and scale of missile attacks on sites in Kyiv will increase in response to the Kiev nationalist regime, which carries out all kinds of terrorist attacks or sabotage on Russian territory,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
The story continues under the ad
Russia is using missiles to destroy a facility to repair and manufacture missile systems in Kyiv, Konashenkov said.
Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed that any targets have been struck in Russia, and the reports cannot be independently verified.
However, Ukrainian authorities said their forces had fired missiles at a key Russian warship. A senior U.S. defense official has backed the claim, saying the United States now believes Moscow was hit by at least one and possibly two Neptune rockets. Earlier, the Pentagon said it could not confirm the cause of the large fire aboard the cruiser with guided missiles. The officer speaks on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment.
2:23 Ukraine claims missile strike led to sinking of Putin’s esteemed warship Ukraine claims missile strike caused sinking of Putin’s esteemed warship
Neptune is an anti-ship rocket recently developed by Ukraine in an earlier Soviet design.
Popular stories
-
Do you need to rent or buy a home? Why this calculation may change
-
Mike Bossi, Canadian hockey icon and New York Islanders legend, dies at 65
The ship, named after the Russian capital, then sank while being towed to port on Thursday after suffering severe damage. Although Moscow did not acknowledge any attack, saying only that the fire caused an explosion of ammunition on board, the loss of the ship was an important victory for Ukraine and a symbolic defeat for Russia.
The story continues under the ad
Moscow had the capacity to carry 16 long-range cruise missiles. The last time such a large warship sank in battle was in 1982, when a British submarine torpedoed an Argentine naval cruiser called the ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War, killing more than 300 sailors.
The sinking reduces Russia’s firepower in the Black Sea, although military analysts disagree on the significance of the event for the course of the war. In any case, the loss was seen as emblematic of Moscow’s fate in a seven-week invasion that is widely seen as a historic mistake following the withdrawal from the Kyiv region and much of northern Ukraine.
“The flagship Russian warship is a worthy place to dive. We already have another place to dive in the Black Sea. We will definitely visit the remnants after our victory in the war, “Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov wrote on Twitter on Friday.
In a speech Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainians they should be proud to have survived 50 days under Russian attack when the invaders “gave us a maximum of five”.
3:15 Mariupol is on the verge of falling into Russia, while Zelensky warns of “endless bloodbath” Mariupol is on the verge of falling under Russia, while Zelensky warns of “endless bloodbath”
Russia’s warning of renewed air strikes has not prevented Kyiv residents from taking advantage of a sunny and slightly warmer spring Friday as the weekend draws to a close. More people than usual were on the street, walking dogs, riding electric scooters and walking hand in hand.
The story continues under the ad
In a central park, a small group of people, including a woman wearing a Ukrainian flag, danced to the music of a portable speaker.
The renewed bombing could mean a return to the steady howls of air raid sirens heard during the first days of the invasion and to the dreaded nights hidden in subway stations. Pre-war signs of life reappeared in the capital after Russian troops failed to capture the city and withdrew to focus on eastern Ukraine, leaving evidence of possible war crimes.
News of “Moscow” overshadowed Russian claims of progress in the southern port city of Mariupol, which Moscow forces had blocked since the first days of the invasion. The dwindling number of Ukrainian defenders opposed the siege, which was appalling at the cost of trapped and starving civilians.
The mayor of Mariupol said this week that more than 10,000 civilians had died and the death toll could exceed 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials said they expected to find evidence in Mariupol of atrocities against civilians such as those found in Bucha and others. cities outside Kyiv.
Mariupol City Council said on Friday that locals said they had seen Russian soldiers dig up bodies that had been buried in backyards and prevent new burials of “people killed by them”.
“Why the exhumation is taking place and where the bodies will be taken is unknown,” the council told the Telegram news app.
The story continues under the ad
Fighting continues in industrial zones and the port, and Russia is using a Tu-22M3 long-range bomber for the first time to attack the city, said Alexander Motuzyanik, a spokesman for Ukraine’s defense ministry.
The capture of Mariupol will allow Russian forces in the south, which have risen through the annexed Crimean peninsula, to connect fully with troops in the Donbass region, Ukraine’s eastern industrial center and the target of the impending offensive.
Read more: Russia lost its warship “Moscow” in Ukraine. How will this affect the war in Moscow?
Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces in Donbas since 2014, the same year Russia took over Crimea from Ukraine. Russia has recognized the independence of two rebel-held areas in the region.
Although it is uncertain when Russia will launch a full-scale campaign, a regional Ukrainian official said on Friday that seven people were killed and 27 injured after Russian forces opened fire on buses carrying civilians in the village of Borovaya, near the northeastern city of Kharkiv. The claim cannot be verified independently.
Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesman for the regional prosecutor’s office, told the Ukrainian news website Suspilne that Ukrainian authorities had opened criminal proceedings on suspicion of “violation of the laws or customs of war combined with premeditated murder.”
The story continues under the ad
A major explosion also shook the eastern city of Kramatorsk, where a rocket attack on a railway station killed more than 50 people a week earlier, while thousands, listening to evacuation warnings from the Donbass region, waited to leave.
Associated Press reporters in Kramatorsk heard the sound of a rocket and then an explosion, followed by howling sirens on Friday. It was not immediately clear what was hit …
Add Comment