The Attorney General of Ukraine, Irina Venediktova, reported on Sunday that 1,222 bodies have been found in the region around the capital Kiev, which was partially occupied by Russian forces for several weeks.
“So far we have 1,222 dead in the Kiev region alone,” said Venediktova, in an English-language interview with the British broadcaster Sky News.
The official also pointed out in the interview that there have been 5,600 incidents under investigation for alleged war crimes since the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February.
The official did not specify whether the bodies found were exclusively civilians. A week ago, Venediktova reported that 410 civilians had been found dead in the liberated regions near Kiev. The prosecutor then pointed out that there were undoubtedly more bodies that had not yet been found and examined.
The town of Bucha, northwest of Kiev, became a symbol of the horrors of the war in Ukraine with nearly 300 people buried in mass graves, according to a balance announced by the Ukrainian authorities on April 2.
The increase in civilian casualties has led to widespread international condemnation and further sanctions.
Ukraine blames Russia for multiple atrocities against civilians in Bucha and other cities outside the capital where hundreds of bodies, many with tied hands and signs of torture, were found after Russian troops withdrew. Moscow denies committing war crimes and claims without proof that the scenes in Bucha were a montage.
According to the UN count, nearly 1,800 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and more than 2,400 injured as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights clarifies that the actual figures “are considerably higher, especially in government-controlled territory and especially in recent days "because there is a lack of information on some places where intense hostilities have taken place and many details of the casualties “remain to be corroborated”.
“From 4 a.m. on 24 February, when the armed attack by the Russian Federation began on Ukraine, until 00 a.m. on 9 April, the High Commissioner has recorded 3,893 civilian casualties in Ukraine: 1,793 dead and 2,439 injured,” according to the report. The deceased have been identified as 458 men, 294 women, 46 boys and 27 girls, as well as 69 children and 899 adults pending identification. The injured have been identified as 279 men, 213 women, 47 girls and 46 boys, as well as 136 children and 1,718 adults pending identification.
For its part, the UN refugee agency reported on Sunday that more than 4.5 million people have left the country since the worst land conflict in Europe since World War II began.
Concern about a new offensive
Russia is trying to establish a land corridor from Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and the eastern Donbas region which is partly in the hands of Moscow-backed separatists, said the UK Ministry of Defense.
Satellite images show military convoys moving towards the Donbas. Some cities in the east are under heavy bombardment with tens of thousands of people unable to evacuate. In the east, calls by the Ukrainian authorities for civilians to flee became more urgent after a missile attack hit a train station on Friday in the city of Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region, which was full of people trying to leave.
Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky, who spoke with German Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz on Sunday, said his country is preparing for a Russian offensive. “Sadly, we see preparations for major battles, some say they will be decisive, in the east,” he declared Saturday in Kiev.
“We are ready to fight and at the same time seek to end this war through diplomacy,” he added, referring to the peace negotiations with Moscow. With Scholz, “we agreed that all perpetrators of war crimes should be identified and punished,” Zelensky said in a tweet.
“Ukraine is ready for great battles, Ukraine must win them, including in the Donbas. When that happens, Ukraine will have a strong negotiating position that will allow it to dictate certain conditions,” said Ukrainian negotiator Mikhailo Podoliak, quoted by the Interfax agency.
(With information from AFP, Europa Press and Reuters)
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