Photos from Ukraine show horror wrought by Russia’s ‘butchers’

More horrific images have emerged from previously occupied territory in Ukraine, showing the scale of atrocities committed by the Russians.

Warning: Graphic content.

More horrific images have emerged from the previously occupied territory reclaimed by Ukraine, showing the scale of atrocities carried out by Russian forces.

Vladimir Putin’s troops have been forced to retreat from the region around Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, in recent days, having failed to capture or even encircle the city, which was a key initial goal of the Russian invasion.

Ukraine has reclaimed a number of settlements in the area, discovering awful scenes in territory abandoned by the Russians, with hundreds of civilians allegedly executed, raped and in some cases, tortured.

Be warned, the images in this story are disturbing. However we believe it is important to show a full picture of what is happening on the ground.

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Ukrainian workers collect the bodies of two men in Bucha. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

A dog lies next to the body of a man who was killed by Russian troops. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

In his nightly speech today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directly addressed the horrific scenes found in reclaimed settlements around Kyiv.

“Hundreds of people were killed. Tortured. Executed. Civilians. Corpses on the streets, mined areas. Even the bodies of the dead were mined,” Mr Zelensky said.

“Concentrated evil has come to our land. Murderers, torturers, rapists, looters, who call themselves an army, and who deserve only death after what they did.

“I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the killed people in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel.

“What did (the victims) do? Why were they killed? What did the man who was riding his bicycle down the street do? Why were ordinary civilians, in an ordinary, peaceful city tortured to death? Why were women strangled after their earrings were ripped out of their ears? How could women be raped and killed in front of children? How could their corpses be desecrated, even after death? Why did they crush the bodies of people with tanks?

“What did the Ukrainian city of Bucha do to your Russia?”

He asked Russian parents how they had “raised butchers”, saying they “couldn’t be unaware” of “what’s inside your children”.

“No soul. No heart. They killed deliberately and with pleasure,” he said.

“For these murders, for these tortures, for these arms torn off by explosions that lie on the streets, for shots in the back of the head of tied-up people – this is how the Russian state will now be perceived. This is your image.”

A man walks past the body of a civilian in Bucha. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

Two bodies of civilians, with their hands tied behind their backs, lie on a street. Picture: Ronaldo Shemidt/AFP

A worker prepares a body bag for this victim, left on the road. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

A mass grave in Bucha. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

Devastated Ukrainians gather close to a mass grave. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

One worker prepares to add another body to a van loaded with body bags. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

Dozens of bodies were found on the roadside. Ukraine has accused Russia of mining some of them. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

Another body, abandoned on the side of the road in Bucha. Picture: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP

This image comes from Myla, another settlement near Kyiv. Picture: Alexey Furman/Getty Images

A burnt corpse next to a destroyed car, near Myla. Picture: Alexey Furman/Getty Images

Multiple bodies lying on a street in Bucha. Picture: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP

Bodies were found in a hastily dug trench near a church. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba said Russia was behaving “worse than ISIS”. He described the scenes in Bucha as a “deliberate massacre” and the “most outrageous atrocity of the 21st century”.

“Without exaggeration, by what we have seen in Bucha and the vicinity, we can conclude that Russia is worse than ISIS in the scale and ruthlessness of the crimes committed,” Mr Kuleba told reporters in Warsaw, Poland.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said “what happened in Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv can only be described as genocide”.

Western leaders have also expressed outrage.

“The images reaching us from Bucha, a liberated town near Kyiv, are unbearable,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.

“In the streets, hundreds of civilians cowardly murdered. My compassion for the victims, my solidarity with the Ukrainians. The Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said “light must be shed” on the “crimes” of the Russian army, and it was important to “document these atrocities”.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the images from the Kyiv region were “more evidence of Putin’s war crimes”.

“We will not rest until justice is served,” he said.