- Ukrainian police said the bodies of more than 900 civilians have been found in the areas outside capital of Kyiv, the Associated Press reported.
- Kyiv regional police chief Andriy Nebytov it appears that the majority of them were "simply executed."
- The harrowing discovery was made after Russian forces withdrew from the area around Kyiv.
Ukrainian police said on Friday that the bodies of more than 900 civilians have been found in the areas outside Ukraine's capital of Kyiv — and that it appears many of them were "simply executed" by Russian troops.
Kyiv regional police chief Andriy Nebytov said that the bodies were discovered strewn in the streets in the region surrounding the capital or in temporary burial plots, the Associated Press reported.
Citing police data, Nebytov said that 95% of the slain civilians died from gunshot wounds, according to the news outlet.
"We understand that under the [Russian] occupation, people were simply executed in the streets," Nebytov said, adding that the death toll is expected to rise as more bodies are found daily under debris and in mass graves, according to the AP.
The harrowing discovery was made after Russian forces withdrew from the area around Kyiv after several weeks of war with the eastern European country in which Russian troops failed to capture the capital.
Nebytov said more than 350 bodies were found in the Ukrainian town of Bucha alone, the AP reported.
Additionally, Nebytov said that utility workers in Bucha buried bodies in the Kyiv suburb when it was under Russian control and said Russian troops were "tracking down" people with pro-Ukrainian views, according to the AP.
Earlier this month, gruesome scenes of dead civilians emerged out of Bucha, sparking international outrage.