[서울=뉴스핌] Reporter Jeong Yeon-woo = Evidence of war crimes is emerging as it is confirmed that hundreds of civilians have been executed in a city near the capital Kiiu, which the Ukrainian military recaptured from Russian forces.
According to foreign media such as the BBC and CNN on the 2nd (local time), Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hannah Malia announced on Twitter on the 2nd that “the entire Kiiu region has been liberated from invaders.”
The withdrawal of Russian troops follows an attempt to shift focus away from eastern Ukraine and the area surrounding Kiiu and into areas where Russian forces have faced intense Ukrainian resistance. Ukraine has reclaimed Hostomel Airport near Kiiw, where fighting has been taking place since the first day of the conflict.
However, with the withdrawal of Russian troops, evidence of the killing of civilians, a war crime, is emerging. At least 20 bodies in civilian attire have been found in a bucha on the outskirts of Kiiu, the BBC and CNN reported. A body can be seen with his hands tied behind his back in a white cloth, CNN reported.
| Ukrainian soldiers are on a mission outside the capital, Kyiv. [사진=뉴스핌DB] |
Deputy Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk told Archyde.com that civilians had been executed by Russian forces. “The bodies of those executed are still on Bucha Jabruska Street,” he said, adding that “their hands were tied behind their backs and they were shot in the back of their heads.”
“The bodies of men found tied to their hands have been shot and killed by Russian troops,” Mikhail Podolyak, aide to the office of the President of Ukraine, tweeted.
“These people weren’t in the military, they didn’t have weapons and they didn’t pose any threat,” he said.
CNN reported that it was not able to independently confirm the specifics of the deaths of these men.
CNN quoted a senior U.S. intelligence official as saying that Russia had revised its war strategy to focus on taking control of areas such as Donbas in eastern Ukraine by early May.
