Ukrainian authorities have found evidence of war crimes in Kherson after retaking the key southern city this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
“Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes, the bodies of civilians and military are being found,” Zelenskyy said in a speech.
“In the Kherson region, the Russian army left behind the same atrocities as in other regions of our country, where it was able to enter.”
Russian forces seized Kherson, a major industrial center on the Dnieper River, in the early days of the war as they pushed north from the Crimean peninsula.
A Ukrainian serviceman walks past a kindergarten building damaged during a Russian missile attack in the village of Novooleksandrivka in the Kherson region of Ukraine on November 9, 2022.
(REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko)
The equipment of the Ukrainian soldiers of the artillery batteries on the front line in Kherson is seen in Kherson, Ukraine, on July 15, 2022.
(Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Ukrainian soldiers defied the Russians in the area for months, first with acts of sabotage and most recently with a full-blown counteroffensive that saw them successfully retake the city this week.
WITH RUSSIA’S WITHDRAWAL FROM KHERSON, RUSSIA AND UKRAINE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO NEGOTIATE PEACE
Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson marks a major setback for Putin, who moved to annex the region just weeks ago.
Evidence of war crimes has been discovered in other parts of Ukraine as Russian soldiers withdrew.
A destroyed car is seen on a highway to the city of Kherson, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the Kherson region of Ukraine on November 11, 2022.
(REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko)
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Hundreds of Ukrainian civilians were found murdered in Bucha, Ukraine, after Russia withdrew from the Kyiv suburb in April. In the eastern city of Izyum, a mass grave was discovered in September with several burn pits containing around 1,100 partially burned bodies.
