Over 900 civilian bodies were discovered near Kyiv since Russia’s drawback from western Ukraine, a Ukrainian official said Friday.
An estimated 95% of the civilians were fatally shot, and their bodies were dumped in the streets or left in makeshift burials, a regional police chief said during a briefing on Friday.
“Consequently, we understand that under the occupation, people were simply executed in the streets,” Andriy Nebytov, the leader of Kyiv’s regional police force, said, according to the Associated Press. “The number of killed civilians has surpassed 900 — and I emphasize, these are civilians, whose bodies we have discovered and handed over for forensic examination.”
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Nebytov cautioned that the body count is expected to continue to rise as Ukrainians sift through the rubble of Moscow’s bombardment. Most of the dead bodies so far were discovered in Bucha, a city on the outskirts of Kyiv, where images of bound and butchered Ukrainians sparked international outcry.
At least 350 corpses were discovered in Bucha, Nebytov noted. While the city was under Russian control, Ukrainian utility workers attempted to gather as many bodies as they could and give them a proper burial, Nebytov added. Russian troops had been “tracking down” civilians in the area who held adamant pro-Ukrainian views, according to the outlet.
Russia began to pull back from western Ukraine late last month following a string of setbacks as Ukrainians displayed fierce resistance to the invasion. Shifting from its apparent attempt to sack Kyiv, the Kremlin announced it would focus on the Donbas region, rife with pro-Russia separatist forces.
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But the recent downing of the Russian flagship Moskva could trigger retaliation from the Kremlin. Ukraine claimed credit for sinking the ship, but Russia contended it sank during a storm. On Friday, Moscow said it bombed a military facility near Kyiv and warned Ukraine against firing off any attacks near Russian territory.
