‘Worse than ISIS’: Russia’s atrocities revealed amid claims soldiers mutilated children

Russia has been slammed as “worse than ISIS” after troops executed more than 400 civilians and left piles of bodies on the street. Warning: Graphic

WARNING: GRAPHIC

Russia has been accused of genocide and of being “worse than ISIS” as the bodies of executed civilians lay strewn across roads and mass graves were discovered.

At least 20 bodies, all in civilian clothing, were seen across a single street in the town of Bucha, near Irpin, on Sunday, The Sun reports.

However, Ukrainian officials say 410 people have been found dead in towns near Kyiv so far, with 300 killed in Bucha alone, and 57 were discovered in one mass grave there.

Among those said to have been killed was a 14-year-old boy.

There have also been claims of rapes and of the Kremlin’s soldiers “mutilating children”.

In nearby Irpin, one report claimed Russian kill squads shot women and girls and then drove over them in tanks. Moscow’s fighters booby-trapped corpses, sources added.

At the time of the murders, Chechen forces controlled the area, it’s claimed.

Russia has denied the allegations that troops killed civilians.

Moscow says no residents suffered from any violence from Russian forces and accused Kyiv of staging the horrific scenes for western media.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “Russia is worse than ISIS. They were killing civilians while leaving – out of anger and just because they wanted to kill.

“We are still gathering bodies but the number has already gone into hundreds.”

However, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the sickening images were evidence that Russia was committing war crimes in Ukraine.

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A communal worker releases the wrists of a dead man with his hands tied behind his back in the town of Bucha, not far from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

And he said Britain will step up sanctions and military aid in response.

“I will do everything in my power to starve Putin’s war machine,” he said.

“No denial or disinformation from the Kremlin can hide what we all know to be the truth — Putin is desperate, his invasion is failing, and Ukraine’s resolve has never been stronger.

“We are stepping up our sanctions and military support, as well as bolstering our humanitarian support package to help those in need on the ground.

“The UK has been at the forefront of supporting the International Criminal Court’s investigation into atrocities committed in Ukraine.

“The Justice Secretary has authorised additional financial support and the deployment of specialist investigators — we will not rest until justice is served.”

AFP journalists said at least nine of the bodies appeared to have been executed, including two whose hands were tied behind their backs.

At least three were naked from the waist up while another man had his Ukrainian passport left open beside him.

President Volodymyr Zelensky told the CBS program Face the Nation that “this is genocide”. “The elimination of the whole nation and the people,” he said.

“We are the citizens of Ukraine. We have more than 100 nationalities.

“This is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities.”

Bucha’s mayor, Anatoly Fedoruk, said “all these people were shot”, adding 280 other bodies had been buried in mass graves elsewhere in the town.

Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky’s spokesman told the BBC “it looks exactly like war crimes”.

“We found mass graves. We found people with their hands and with their legs tied up … and with shots, bullet holes, in the back of their head,” he said.

“They were clearly civilians and they were executed.”

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss today called for the attacks to be “investigated as war crimes”, insisting: “We will not allow Russia to cover up their involvement in these atrocities through cynical disinformation.”

People react as they gather close to a mass grave in the town of Bucha. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

Referring to towns on the outskirts of Kyiv, she said: “As Russian troops are forced into retreat, we are seeing increasing evidence of appalling acts by the invading forces in towns such as Irpin and Bucha.

“Their indiscriminate attacks against innocent civilians during Russia’s illegal and unjustified invasion of Ukraine must be investigated as war crimes.”

Melinda Simmons, Britain’s ambassador to Ukraine, blasted: “Rape is a weapon of war. Though we don’t yet know the full extent of its use in Ukraine, it’s already clear it was part of an arsenal. Women raped in front of their kids, girls in front of their families, as a deliberate act of subjugation. Rape is a war crime.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the images a “punch in the gut” and that those responsible must be held accountable.

A US State Department spokesman hinted at additional action against Russia coming “very soon”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also vowed harder-hitting sanctions.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has already opened a probe into possible war crimes committed in Ukraine.

Several Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have accused Russia’s Vladimir Putin of being a “war criminal”.

Human Rights Watch also said it had documented cases of Russian troops committing possible war crimes against civilians in occupied areas of Chernigiv, Kharkiv, and Kyiv, including rape and summary execution.

Russians ‘retreat’

It comes as Ukraine said it had regained control of the Kyiv region, with Russian troops retreating from around the capital and Chernigiv city.

Ukrainian officials said on Saturday their forces had taken back more than 30 towns and villages around Kyiv, claiming complete control of the capital region for the first time since Russia launched its invasion.

“The whole Kyiv region is liberated from the invader,” Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar wrote on Facebook.

But there is too much sorrow for celebration.

The roads are mined, homes are destroyed and thousands of those who fled have been told, for now, not to return.

After more than five weeks of brutal fighting, Russia is also understood to have regrouped for battles in eastern Ukraine.

A man gestures at a mass grave in the town of Bucha. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in a video address: “They are mining all this territory. Houses are mined, equipment is mined, even the bodies of dead people.”

He said: “This is genocide. We are the citizens of Ukraine. We have more than 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities.”

He did not cite any evidence but the claims were echoed by Mayor Fedoruk, who said bodies had not been collected due to fears Russians had booby-trapped them.

The mayor of Kyiv, former world heavyweight boxing champ Vitali Klitschko, said Putin was responsible for these “cruel war crimes”.

Ukraine’s emergencies service said more than 1500 explosives had been found in one day during a search of the village of Dmytrivka, west of the capital.

Russia’s defence ministry did not reply to a request for comment on the mining allegations and they have not been verified.

Moscow denies targeting civilians and rejects war crimes allegations.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and has been reproduced with permission