Ukraine accuses Russia of war crimes as mass graves of ‘executed’ civilians found in Bucha
- Ukraine said the shooting of hundreds of bodies near the capital was a ‘deliberate massacre’ and urged G7 nations to impose ‘devastating’ sanctions immediately
- The claims came as air strikes targeted key infrastructure in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, which has largely been spared in the conflict
Ukraine on Sunday accused Russian troops of war crimes after the discovery of mass graves and civilians apparently “executed” in the streets of Bucha, near the capital Kyiv.
The claims came as explosions rocked the Black Sea port city of Odesa, which has largely been spared in the conflict, with air strikes apparently targeting key infrastructure.
In Bucha, reporters saw at least 20 bodies, all in civilian clothing, strewn across a single street. One had his hands tied behind his back with a white cloth, and his Ukrainian passport left open beside his body.
“All these people were shot,” Bucha’s mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said, adding that 280 other bodies had been buried in mass graves elsewhere in Bucha.
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Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called it a “deliberate massacre” and urged G7 countries to impose “devastating” sanctions immediately.
“It looks exactly like war crimes,” President Volodymyr Zelensky’s spokesman told BBC television. “We found mass graves. We found people with their hands and with their legs tied up … and with shots, bullet holes, in the back of their head. They were clearly civilians and they were executed.”