Ukraine’s top prosecutor said 410 bodies were found in towns recaptured from retreating Russian forces near Kyiv as part of an investigation into possible war crimes, according to reporting by Reuters. Some alleged witnesses, however, are so traumatized by their ordeal that they cannot yet speak, said Iryna Venedyktova, Ukraine’s prosecutor general.
The mayor in Bucha, a town 23 miles northwest of Kyiv that has been liberated by Ukrainian forces, told Reuters that 300 residents had been killed while fighters from Chechnya controlled the area.
Russia has denied allegations that its troops killed civilians in Bucha. Ukrainian prosecutors were only able to enter the towns of Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel for the first time on Sunday and they need more time to work out the extent of the crimes, said Venedyktova.
People are stressed and traumatised to speak
“We need to work with witnesses,” she said, according to Reuters. “People today are so stressed that they are physically unable to speak.”
For his part, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy reportedly has said it is clear hundreds of civilians had been killed but that he did not want to specify exactly how many there were.
Earlier, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of genocide against Ukrainian people, saying in an interview that: “We have more than 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of those nationalities.”
Zelenskyy made those comments after warning that forces want to seize the east and south of the country. He also said Ukrainian forces had regained control over communities in Kyiv and Chernihiv.
Zelenskyy has also called for a ceasefire before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Video address at the Grammys
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a video address at the Grammy Awards ceremony during which he contrasted the “silence of ruined cities and killed people” in Ukraine with the music and freedom at the Grammys.
“Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded. In hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway,” he said in the video message.
“Fill the silence with your music. Fill it today. To tell our story,” he added.
He asked viewers to tell “the truth about the war” and support Ukraine.
Fighting rages on in Mariupol as worst fighting shift to the south
Fighting rages around Mariupol as Russia shifts its focus to southeastern Ukraine
Intense fighting continues to flare around Mariupol in Ukraine’s south as Russian troops try to capture the devastated port city.
“The city continues to be subject to intense, indiscriminate strikes but Ukrainian [forces] maintain a staunch resistance, retaining control of central areas,” the U.K. Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update Sunday night.
Mariupol is one of the cities most devastated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It lies on the Sea of Azov, with the Russian border lying to the east and Ukraine territory already seized by Moscow’s forces to the west.
“Mariupol is almost certainly a key objective of the Russian invasion as it will secure a land corridor from Russia to the occupied territory of Crimea,” the British ministry said.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned over the weekend that Moscow is trying to seize territory in the eastern Donbas region and in the south where Mariupol is located.
The worst fighting in Ukraine appears to be shifting to the south and east, as Ukrainian forces have repelled Russian troops in northern areas, especially around Kyiv.
Ukrainian forces retaking ground around the capital say they have discovered hundreds of dead civilians, some apparently shot with their hands tied behind their backs.
Ukraine Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said in a video on Sunday that he expects to uncover further atrocities in Mariupol.
Kuleba is “trying to prepare myself for images and videos which will come from Mariupol when we liberate it,” he said.“Probably they will be even more devastating,” Kuleba said.
SOURCE: CNBC
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