International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan and Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova visit a site in Bucha
(Picture: REUTERS)More than 900 bodies of civilians were discovered around Kyiv after the withdrawal of Russian troops, a senior police official has said.
Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyiv’s regional police force, said the bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials.
He said police data indicated that 95% of those killed died from gunshot wounds.
“Consequently, we understand that under the [Russian] occupation, people were simply executed in the streets,” Mr Nebytov said.
He added that the toll would rise as more bodies are being found every day, under rubble and in mass graves.
“The most victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 corpses,” he said.
Evidence of Russia-committed war crimes after the withdrawal of Putin’s men from the town, a suburb of Kyiv, shocked the world.
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has branded Ukraine a “crime scene” after visiting the town.
Karim Khan QC, the first Briton to lead the ICC in The Hague, said that his team had “reasonable grounds” to believe war crimes had been committed by Vladimir Putin’s troops.
Russia has denied complicity in war crimes, alleging without evidence that some of the distressing photos of deceased civilians in Bucha were staged by Ukrainian forces.
The Russian Defence Ministry on Friday promised to ramp up missile attacks on Kyiv after what it called Ukrainian aggression on Russian territory.
It alleged a Ukrainian helicopter attack on a Russian village over the border, and pledged further retaliation - but Ukraine denies the attack.
The ominous warning followed the loss of Moscow’s flagship vessel in the Black Sea, after it was hit by Ukrainian missiles.
The Moskva, named for the Russian capital, then sank while being towed to port on Thursday after suffering heavy damage.
Though Moscow did not acknowledge any attack, saying only that a fire had caused ammunition on board to detonate, the loss of the ship represents an important victory for Ukraine and a symbolic defeat for Russia.
