Apparently more than 700 dead in Kiev’s suburbs

According to Ukraine, more than 700 bodies have been recovered in the areas around Kyiv so far, and hundreds of people are still missing. Meanwhile, Russia continued its offensive on Mariupol with airstrikes.

According to the Interior Ministry, more than 700 people have been killed in Bucha and other suburbs of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The ministry said more than 200 other people were missing in the areas occupied by Russian troops.

According to the authorities, more than 400 bodies were found in Butscha alone. “We have 403 dead who were brutally tortured and murdered,” said Bucha’s mayor Anatoly Fedoruk. According to him, the bodies of another mass grave with 56 dead are currently being exhumed. At least 16 people are still missing. That number could increase as minesweepers comb the area.

French experts are looking for evidence

According to the General Prosecutor’s Office, French experts from the gendarmerie and the medical service of the French army have started their work. “The evidence collected will be used in national investigations and also handed over to the International Criminal Court,” said Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova. With a mobile laboratory for DNA analysis, the experts are supposed to stay in the place for 15 days.

Bucha is located about twelve kilometers from the outskirts of Kiev. After the Russian troops withdrew at the end of March, dozens of bodies, some of them tied up, were found on the streets of the small town. Russia categorically denies the allegations of war crimes, but has not provided any evidence to exonerate itself.

Incidents in Brovary district are also being investigated, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Authorities said the bodies of six civilians with gunshot wounds were found in a basement in the village of Shevchenkove. It is believed that Russian forces are responsible.

Renewed air raids on Mariupol

Meanwhile, Russian forces continued their offensive on the city of Mariupol, which had been contested for weeks. According to Kiev, there were renewed air raids during the night. According to the Ukrainian military, Russian troops also attacked the city’s port and the Azovstal Steel Plant. Ukrainian soldiers have entrenched themselves in the sprawling industrial complex.

Despite the destruction of many houses, civilians are still holding out in Mariupol, as Deputy Mayor Serhiy Orlov told the daily themes on Tuesday. People stayed in basements and shelters to avoid the shelling. “This is not life. This is survival,” Orlov said. The Ukrainian administration of the Donetsk region, to which Mariupol belongs, said on Tuesday that more than 20,000 people were estimated to have been killed there. This number is also not verifiable.

The city of Kharkiv in the east of the country was also shelled by Russian artillery, it said. The details of the fighting were not independently verifiable. However, the Ukrainian morning report indicated that the military situation had not changed much. A large-scale Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine is expected in the coming days or weeks.

Zelenskyj proposes prisoner exchange

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered to exchange the arrested pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk for Ukrainians held in Russian captivity. “I propose to the Russian Federation to exchange their boy for our boys and girls in Russian captivity,” Zelenskyy said.

The politician and oligarch Medvedchuk is considered the closest ally of Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. He is accused of high treason and embezzlement in Kyiv. He had escaped from his house arrest shortly before the outbreak of war in February. Medvedchuk was arrested by the Ukrainian secret service SBU on Tuesday.

Ukraine: 20,000 dead Russian soldiers

In a late-night video speech, Zelenskyy responded to Putin’s statements that the war was going according to plan. “Honestly, no one in the world understands how such a plan could be drawn up,” said Zelenskyy. What good is a plan that envisages the death of tens of thousands of your own soldiers, asked the head of state. It is clear that the number of Ukrainians killed in Moscow is not of interest anyway.

Zelenskyy quoted Ukrainian figures that 20,000 Russian soldiers had already been killed. Western estimates put the number of deaths in the thousands. The Kremlin itself speaks only of heavy losses. Zelenskyy said that Putin pretends to do everything for the people and for the Donbass. The eastern Ukrainian coal and steel region did not suffer such violence as quickly as it did now from the Russian troops, even during the Second World War. Referring to the siege of Mariupol, Zelenskjy said Russian forces were repeating the blockade of Leningrad.