The bodies of six people killed by bullets were found in a basement in the eastern suburb of Kiev, the Ukrainian prosecutor general announced on Tuesday.
“The bodies of six civilians with gunshot wounds were discovered in the basement of a house,” the prosecution said on Telegram, accompanying her message with a photograph of the bodies and specifying that an investigation was opened.
“According to the preliminary investigation, the Russian military killed civilians in the village of Shevchenkovo, in the Brovary district, near Kiev,” the prosecutor's office said.
In recent days, several hundred civilian bodies have been found in cities around Kiev, such as Bucha and Irpin, after Russian troops withdrew from the area at the end of March.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian police opened another investigation into alleged war crimes following the death of a 64-year-old man from an abandoned mine in an area from which Russian troops recently withdrew. The police said that the resident, who was not identified, was traveling in his car near the town of Krasne, in the north of the country, and stopped to greet acquaintances when he hit an anti-personnel mine left on the side of the road. Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly warned of mines and booby traps in areas that were controlled by the Russians.
The Attorney General of Ukraine, Iryna Venediktova, said on Tuesday that, with her investigation following the Russian invasion, she has information that “alleged war crimes are or have been committed” in about “6,000 places” on Ukrainian territory.
Venediktova stressed that Ukrainian investigators have “reason to believe that in certain cases orders were given from above to bomb and kill civilians” and stated, in statements to Dutch public television NOS, that there is talk of “exterminating the Ukrainian people” and killing civilians under the pretext of “denazification”.
The Attorney General explained that she is doing “everything possible” to collect evidence of humanitarian law violations being committed in Ukraine since the end of February and expressed her hope that “war criminals can be brought to justice” with international aid.
Russian troops have been accused of perpetrating widespread atrocities throughout the country, especially in areas near Kiev, from which they have now withdrawn. Moscow denies the accusations. Ukraine claims that more than 1,200 bodies have been found in the vicinity of the capital.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday told Lithuanian lawmakers that Kiev officials were still investigating crimes committed by the Russian military. “New mass graves are found almost daily. Testimonies are being collected. Thousands and thousands of victims. Hundreds of cases of torture. Dead bodies continue to be found in drains and basements,” Zelensky said.
(With information from AFP, EFE)
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