The bodies of at least 20 people in civilian clothes were strewn on a street in Bucha, a city northwest of kyiv recaptured by Ukrainian forces after being held by Russian troops on Saturday.
One of the bodies had his hands tied behind his back, an AFP journalist said. The bodies were scattered over several hundred meters, without the cause of death being known so far.
Russian troops withdrew from several locations near kyiv, having failed in their attempt to encircle the capital. The Ukrainian authorities claimed that Bucha had been “released”.
The fighting and shelling left an apocalyptic scene, with gaping holes in residential buildings and smashed cars in various parts of the city, AFP reporters reported.
Ukrainian officials said they still did not know who the victims were or how they died.
“This territory was not under Ukrainian control” when they were killed, a kyiv regional official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
“We just entered Bucha… We still don’t know what happened here,” he added.
“They could be civilians killed in a bombing or they could have been killed by Russian soldiers. The security forces will find out,” he added.
Sixteen of the 20 bodies were on or next to a street sidewalk. Three were in the middle of the road and one in the courtyard of a house.
A Ukrainian passport had fallen near the bound body.
All the dead wore civilian clothes: coats, jackets or sweaters, jeans or jogging pants and sneakers or boots.
Two lay next to bicycles and another near an abandoned car. Some were face down and others on their backs.
The faces of the deceased had a waxy appearance, which could indicate that they had been in the place for several days.
– “Common pits” –
Bucha and the nearby town of Irpin have been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting since Russia launched its offensive against Ukraine on February 24.
These two cities have resisted but have paid a very high price. Most of its inhabitants have fled.
Ukrainian forces were only able to gain access to Bucha a day or two ago, after nearly a month of Russian occupation.
According to the mayor of the town, Anatoly Fedoruk, 280 people had to be buried in “common graves” because it was impossible to do so in cemeteries, still exposed to Russian bombing.
The Bucha street where the 20 bodies were found was littered with rubble and power lines on the ground. All the houses in the area seemed empty.
A silver-colored car was riddled with bullets and several bodies were found near a charred pickup truck.
A dozen ambulances headed to the scene this Saturday. According to the Ukrainian authorities, they have been evacuating bodies from the region for several days.
Two other bodies were found in another area of the city. One was covered in a sheet, near a badly damaged apartment complex not far from the station.
