Zelenskiy accuses Moscow of war crimes in Kherson

Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes. Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russian soldiers of committing war crimes and killing civilians in Kherson, parts of which were retaken by Ukraine’s army last week after Russia pulled out.

“Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes. Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Sunday.

Russia denies its troops intentionally target civilians.

Mass graves have been found in several places across Ukraine since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24, including civilian bodies showing evidence of torture discovered in the Kharkiv region and in Bucha, near Kyiv. Ukraine has accused Russian troops of committing the crimes.

A United Nations commission in October said war crimes were committed in Ukraine and that Russian forces were responsible for the “vast majority” of human rights violations in the early weeks of the war.

Ukrainian troops arrived in the centre of southern Kherson region on Friday after Russia abandoned the only regional capital it had captured since Moscow launched its invasion.

Zelenskiy also warned Kherson residents about the presence of Russian mines. “I am asking you please not to forget that the situation in Kherson region remains very dangerous,” he said.

Residents said the Russians had pulled out gradually over the past two weeks, but their final departure became clear only when the first Ukrainian troops entered Kherson on Thursday.

“It was a gradual thing,” said Alexii Sandakov, 44, a videographer. “First their special police went. Then the ordinary police and their administration. Then you started seeing fewer soldiers in the supermarkets and then their military vehicles driving away.”

Ukraine’s defence ministry said it had recaptured 179 settlements and 4,500km² along the Dnipro River since the beginning of the week.

Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff reported fierce fighting along the eastern front in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.