In Bucha, Residents Report Seeing Russians Dig Up Bodies

While authorities say the bodies of 900 civilians were found outside Kyiv
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 16, 2022 6:15 AM CDT
Bodies of 900 Civilians Reportedly Found Outside Kyiv
Relatives mourn the dead of Oleksandr Mozheiko, 31, territorial defense soldier who was killed by Russian army on March 5, during his funeral in Irpin, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday , April 15, 2022.   (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Indignant over what it called Ukrainian strikes in Russian territory and following the stunning loss of its Black Sea flagship, Moscow threatened renewed missile attacks on Kyiv, where authorities said the bodies of more than 900 civilians were found outside the capital. Most had been shot dead, police said, and likely "simply executed." The AP provides an update on what's happening in other cities:

  • Russian forces prepared for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine, and fighting also went on in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol, where the city council said Friday that locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies buried in residential courtyards and not allowing new burials "of people killed by them." "Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown," the council said on the Telegram messaging app.

  • In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the shelling of a residential area killed seven people, including a 7-month-old child, and wounded 34, according to regional Gov. Oleh Sinehubov.
  • Early Saturday, Kyiv's eastern district of Darnytskie was struck, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in an online posting. He said rescuers and paramedics were on the scene. He warned residents who have fled the capital not to return for their safety.
  • In the towns around Kyiv, said Andriy Nebytov, who heads the region’s police force, bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating 95% died from gunshot wounds. More bodies are being found every day under rubble and in mass graves, he added, with the largest number found in Bucha.
  • President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian troops occupying parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south of terrorizing civilians and hunting for anyone who served in Ukraine’s military or government.
  • "The occupiers think this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themselves," Zelensky said in his nightly video address. “Russia’s problem is that it is not accepted—and never will be accepted—by the entire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukraine forever.”
(More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)

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