The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been found in the Kyiv region after the withdrawal of Russian forces, said the chief of police in the area.
Andriy Nebitov, head of the regional police in Kyiv, said the bodies had been abandoned on the streets or temporarily buried. About 95 percent died from gunshot wounds, he added.
“Therefore, we understand that during the occupation, people were simply executed on the streets,” Mr Nebitov said.
More and more bodies are being found every day, under rubble and in mass graves, he added.
The highest number of victims was found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 bodies, the police chief said.
The discovery of other bodies comes after Ukrainian authorities first discovered mass graves in Bucha earlier this month, sparking strong international condemnation.
During a visit to the country on Wednesday, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that war crimes had been committed in Ukraine.
Women clean in a building with a collapsed facade in the military-industrial complex of the company Vizar, after the site was hit by Russian strikes at night, in the city of Vishnevo, southwestern suburbs of Kyiv
(AFP via Getty Images)
Ukrainian leaders have warned that even bigger civilian casualties are likely to be discovered in Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks by Russian forces blocking aid and evacuation convoys.
Mariupol residents say they have seen Russian soldiers dig up bodies in an alleged attempt to cover up war crimes
Ukrainian forces said on Friday they were trying to break the siege of Mariupol by Russian forces and that fighting was taking place around the city’s port and Ilyich steel plant.
This map shows the extent of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
(Images of the press association)
Before the war, Mariupol was home to 400,000 people, but was reduced to rubble in seven weeks of siege and bombing, with tens of thousands still trapped. There is an acute shortage of water, food and medicine in the city.
“The situation in Mariupol is difficult and difficult. The struggle is happening right now. The Russian army is constantly calling for additional units to storm the city, “said Defense Ministry spokesman Alexander Motuzyanik.
“But so far the Russians have not been able to capture him completely,” he told a television briefing.
Meanwhile, Russian shelling hit a residential area of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Friday, killing seven people, including a small child and injuring 34 others, the district governor said.
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