KYIV — Ukraine said Saturday
Russian forces were making a "rapid retreat" from around the capital Kyiv and the
city of Chernigiv, as evidence emerged of possible civilian killings in areas
they have been occupying.
اضافة اعلان
AFP reporters saw at least 20 bodies on a
single street in the town of Bucha near Kyiv, including one with his hands
tied, and the body of a missing photographer was discovered in a nearby
village.
"All these people were shot,"
Bucha's mayor Anatoly Fedoruk told AFP, adding that 280 other bodies had been
buried in mass graves in the town.
As it withdraws from northern areas, Russia
appears to be focusing on the east and south of
Ukraine, where it already hold
vast swathes of territory.
"Russia is prioritizing a different
tactic: falling back on the east and south," Ukrainian presidential
adviser
Mykhaylo Podolyak said on social media.
"Without heavy weapons we won't be able
to drive (Russia) out," he said.
President Vladimir Putin ordered tanks into
Russia's pro-Western neighbor on February 24 and Ukraine estimates 20,000
people have been killed in the war so far.
More than 10 million have had to flee their
homes.
Journalist killed 'with two shots'
Ukrainian authorities on Saturday said the
body of a well-known photographer, Maks Levin, had been found near a village in
the region around Kyiv that had been caught up in the fighting.
"According to preliminary information,
unarmed Maxim Levin was killed by servicemen of the
Russian Armed Forces with
two shots from small fire arms," prosecutors said in a statement on
Telegram.
Levin, a 40-year-old father of four, had
been reported missing on March 13 and the body was found near Guta Mezhygirksa
on April 1, officials said.
The NGO Reporters Without Borders said Levin
was the sixth journalist killed in the conflict.
In Bucha, 16 of the 20 corpses found on one
street were lying either on the pavement or by the verge. Three were sprawled
in the middle of the road, and another lay on his side in the courtyard of a
destroyed house.
An open Ukrainian passport lay on the ground
next to the person who had his hands tied behind his back with a piece of white
cloth. Two other people had white cloth tied around their upper arms.
All were wearing civilian clothes — winter
coats, jackets or tracksuit tops, jeans or jogging bottoms, and trainers or
boots.
The
International Criminal Court has already
opened a probe into possible war crimes committed in Ukraine and several
Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have accused Putin of being
a "war criminal".
'Our city doesn't exist anymore'
Russia's efforts to consolidate its hold on
southern and eastern areas of the country have been hampered by the resistance
of Mariupol despite devastating attacks lasting weeks.
At least 5,000 residents have been killed,
according to local officials.
The estimated 160,000 who remain face
shortages of food, water, and electricity.
Dozens of buses carrying Mariupol residents
who had escaped the city earlier arrived on Friday in Zaporizhzhia, 200km to
the northwest.
The buses brought people who had been able
to flee Mariupol to Russian-occupied Berdiansk.
"My house was destroyed. I saw it in
photos. Our city doesn't exist anymore," said Olena, who carried her young
daughter in her arms.
The
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its team headed to Mariupol to try and conduct an evacuation but
was forced to turn back Friday.
The ICRC said its team left again on
Saturday bound for Mariupol to make another attempt.
"They are spending the night en route
to Mariupol and are yet to reach the city," an ICRC spokesperson said.
In another city in the south, Enerhodar,
which is under Russian control, a Ukrainian official said Russian forces opened
fire on peaceful demonstrators, injuring four with "severe burns".
Russian troops took control of Enerhodar,
the site of Europe's largest nuclear power plant, in early March.
"Today in Enerhodar, city residents
gathered again for a rally in support of Ukraine, singing the anthem,"
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova said on Telegram.
"The occupiers used light and noise
grenades and opened mortar fire on the residents, four people were injured and
severely burned," she said.
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