Zelensky spoke on national television from the city of Bukha in the Kiev region, where bound corpses were shot at close range, a mass grave and other execution marks were found on ground recovered by Russian troops. Moscow has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the killing of civilians in Bucha. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “These are war crimes and will be recognized by the world as genocide,” Zelenski said, wearing armor and surrounded by military personnel. “It’s very difficult to talk when you see what they have done here,” he said. “The longer the Russian Federation delays the negotiation process, the worse it is for it and for this situation and for this war.” “We know thousands of people who have been killed and tortured, with amputated limbs, raped women and murdered children,” he said. After Zelensky spoke, Ukrainian officials transported reporters to the basement of a children’s cottage, they said, and showed them the bodies of five men with their hands tied behind their backs. Officials say the five men, all in civilian clothes, were killed by Russian occupation soldiers before Ukrainian troops took control of the city. “They were shot, they were shot either in the head or in the chest. They were tortured before they were killed,” said Anton Herastshenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a speech, condemning, as he says, war crimes of the Russian troops in the settlements around the Ukrainian capital, as the Russian attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 3, 2022. Ukrainian President Press Service / Bulletin via REUTERS / File photo read more “We are now investigating this and showing it to the international press.” He said Russian soldiers had set up camp inside the building and stayed there for three weeks. Reuters could not independently verify his account. The deputy mayor of Bucha said on Sunday that 50 residents had been killed in extrajudicial killings by Russian troops. read more In nearby Stoianka, about 15 km south of Bucha, Zelenskiy investigated the damage to a freeway bridge that almost split in two. A car was abandoned, with bullets falling on its body and windshield. A neighboring apartment complex was leveled and the advertising hoards were marked by bullets. Russia has denied that it has targeted civilians since invading Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “demilitarize” Ukraine. Ukraine says invasion without provocation. The Kremlin on Monday denied any wrongdoing in connection with the killing of civilians in Bucha. “This information must be seriously challenged,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov told reporters. “From what we have seen, our experts have detected signs of video falsification and other counterfeits.” The devastation and civilian deaths in Bucha appear to have prompted the United States and Europe to impose additional sanctions on Moscow, with officials raising the prospect of restrictions on Russian energy exports. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Additional citations by Pavel Polityuk Written by Alessandra Prentice, Silvia Aloisi and Elizabeth Piper, edited by Timothy Heritage, Janet Lawrence and Nick Macfie Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
