New Delhi: After mass grave were found in Bucha, Ukraine has now revealed that more than 1,200 bodies were recovered in the Kyiv region exposing atrocities allegedly committed during the Russian invasion as residents in the east flee or prepare to cope with the expected massive offensive.
Ukraine's prosecutor Venediktova informed 1,222 bodies have been found in the region around Kyiv alone so far, according to AFP report. Around two corpses were found inside a manhole at a petrol station on a motorway outside Kyiv on Sunday, according to the agency reporter.
The bodies are seemed to be wearing a mix of civilian and military clothing. The country witnessed heavy bombardments through the weekend increasing the casualties since Russian invasion.
Two people were killed in a shelling in northeast Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, on Sunday morning, said regional governor Oleg Sinegoubov. Around 10 civilians, including a child, died in bombing southeast of the city a day earlier, according to authorities, as per AFP report.
"The Russian army continues to wage war on civilians due to a lack of victories at the front," Sinegoubov said.
A large industrial city of Dnipro with million inhabitants also witnessed Russian missiles nearly destroying the local airport, causing an uncertain number of casualties, according to authorities. The city had already been struck on March 15.
The death toll increased in the east of Ukraine, where a missile strike on Friday killed 57 people at a railway station in the city of Kramatorsk, according to a revised count issued by Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donetsk region.
The war has impacted the region's economy as well. The World Bank on Sunday issued an apalling forecast, saying Ukraine's economy would collapse by 45.1 per cent this year, a much bleaker outlook than it predicted even a month ago, while Russia would see an 11.2 percent decline in GDP.
Ukraine on Sunday criticised Kremlin's propaganda, with the collusion of the Russian media, for laying the groundwork for the bloody campaign.
Condeming atrocities against civilians, President Volodymyr Zelensky, who spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said they had agreed "that all perpetrators of war crimes must be identified and punished".
Ukraine's prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova also said the country was examining the alleged atrocities of 500 leading Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, for thousands of war crimes.
On the other hand, White House National security advisor Jake Sullivan pledged the US would "work with the international community to make sure there's accountability" for what he called "mass atrocities".
At the Vatican, Pope Francis called for an Easter ceasefire to pave the way for peace, denouncing a war where "defenceless civilians" suffered "heinous massacres and atrocious cruelty".