Ukraine’s top prosecutor said on Sunday that the bodies of 410 dead civilians have been found so far in recently liberated towns outside Kyiv, a massacre that one Ukrainian official is calling a “planned genocide.”
The bodies were found buried in mass graves, stuffed into sewers, and scattered in plain sight in the streets of Irpin, Bucha, and Hostomel. Ukrainian prosecutors entered the towns on Sunday to investigate possible war crimes by Russia but said they need more time and resources to determine the extent of the loss of civilian life. However, some Ukrainian officials have already seen enough to determine that “concentrated evil” swept through these towns and that the atrocities were meant to be covered up.
“People today are so stressed that they are physically unable to speak,” said Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Iryna Venedyktova on Sunday, describing attempts to interview witnesses and piece together what happened during the Russian occupation of the towns.
Venedyktova said that of the 410 bodies found, 140 had been examined. She is asking the Ukrainian health ministry to provide as many forensic experts as possible to staff a field hospital set up in the Kyiv region.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SAYS RUSSIAN MILITARY HAS COMMITTED ‘APPARENT WAR CRIMES’ IN UKRAINE
As Russian forces failed in their advance toward the capital city of Kyiv, dug in towns such as Bucha, about 23 miles northwest of the Kyiv city center, and battled Ukrainian counterattacks.
In Bucha, hundreds of civilians were found buried in a mass grave on Saturday, according to Ukrainian officials. The town’s mayor said 300 residents were killed by Russian troops while Chechen soldiers controlled the area. Satellite imagery dating back to March 10 allegedly shows the trenches for the gravesite in Bucha already being dug.
Russia has denied that Vladimir Putin’s troops killed civilians in Bucha, accusing Ukraine and Western media outlets of staging scenes of civilian deaths.
At least one Ukrainian official accused Russia of planning the mass murder of civilians as part of its war tactics, citing reports of mobile crematoriums following Russian military vehicles into Ukrainian towns.
“[Russia] came in [to Ukraine] with military bands and columns of the Rosguard. But they were followed by mobile crematories. Why do you need them if you don’t believe in resistance? Now we know: to hide war crimes. This is not a performer’s mistake. This is a planned genocide,” said Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Sunday.
Podoliak noted that some bodies were found with their hands tied behind their backs, demonstrating the killings were deliberate.
“Bodies of men and women, who were killed with their hands tied. The worst crimes of Nazism have returned,” Podoliak said. “This was purposely done by Russia.”
In a post on the social media site Telegram on Sunday, Zelensky argued the deaths could have been prevented if Ukraine had been allowed to join the NATO alliance 14 years ago, and he blasted the mothers of Russian soldiers.
“Bucharest, NATO Summit Declaration. April 3, 14 years ago. There was a chance to prevent, so that Russia didn’t come. Bucha, Kyiv region. Now. Russia has come. Mothers of Russian soldiers should see that. See what bastards you’ve raised. Murderers, looters, butchers,” Zelensky wrote.
Zelensky said in his nightly address on Sunday that Russian soldiers deserve to die for the atrocities outside Kyiv.
“They are deprived of everything humane, there is no soul, no heart,” Zelensky said. “Concentrated evil has come to our land. Murderers, butchers, rapists, looters, who call themselves an army and who only deserve to die after what they have done.”
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A human rights group has accused Russian military forces of committing war crimes against Ukrainian civilians during the invasion of Ukraine.
Human Rights Watch, a nongovernmental organization, on Sunday accused the Russian military of committing war crimes against Ukrainian civilians, including in Bucha. The group said it has documented several instances of rape, murder, and violence committed against civilians since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24.
