- Russian forces are retreating from some towns in Ukraine, leaving behind evidence of alleged murder and rapes.
- Civilian corpses line the streets of liberated Ukrainian towns.
- This article contains photos and text that some may find disturbing.
Reports from towns liberated by Ukrainian forces document alleged Russian atrocities, including rape and civilian corpses left on streets with hands tied behind their back.
As Russian forces begin retreating from the Kyiv region after 38 days of the war, carnage and potential evidence of war crimes have been left in their wake.
The streets of towns near Kyiv, once lined with peaceful homes, are now littered with bodies of dead civilians, say reports.
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People who lived free of war less than two months ago now find their neighbors dead, their loved ones and children mutilated and scarred inside and out by Russian forces.
A mass grave in Bucha, near the capital of Kyiv, demolished by Putin’s forces, serves as a grisly reminder of President Zelenskyy’s statements that “It’s still not possible to return to normal life,” even as troops begin to leave Ukraine.
The Mayor of Bucha has said that the mass graves are evidence of what “can only be described as a genocide,” The Telegraph reports.
Photos and videos on social media show the town of Bucha littered with dead bodies and burnt-out vehicles.
Human Rights Watch has reported a series of alleged atrocities from several now-liberated towns.
It includes the account of a woman in the village of Malaya Rohan who was raped at gunpoint multiple times by a soldier who entered the school where her family, including her five-year-old daughter, were sheltering.
From a village in the Kharkiv region, the woman reportedly suffered several cuts to her neck and face after the soldier switched to holding a knife to her.
Human Rights Watch has also reported on multiple men being dragged from their homes, in which they were hiding from a Russian shelling attack and shot in the back of the head.
Their bodies were left in the street with their hands still behind their backs, and Russian soldiers refused to clear them, Human Rights Watch said.
The organization also found that soldiers looted wood villagers used for heating and cooking and stole food and clothing.
Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, described the atrocities committed by the Russian military as “unspeakable, deliberate cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians.”
They also note that these events are evidence of war crimes that break the 1949 Geneva Convention, prohibiting willful killing, rape, torture, looting, and more.
The UN has recently announced the individuals who would be investigating Russia for the possible war crimes committed during its invasion of Ukraine.
A former UN chief prosecutor has called Putin a ‘war criminal,’ urging for an international arrest warrant for him.
Carla Del Ponte, who formerly prosecuted war crimes in tribunals in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, said that “you saw from day one that war crimes were being committed.”