Despair of mother as son’s body discovered
a uKRainian mother was left distraught after investigators found the body of her son stuffed down a manhole.
in another potential war crime exposed by the Russian retreat from areas surrounding Kyiv, two bodies were recovered from a submerged tank at a petrol station in the village of Buzova.
One woman peeped inside the chamber, before breaking down and clawing the earth. she wailed ‘my son, my son’, recognising him from his shoes.
Reports said the men were wearing civilian clothing but could have been members of local defence units. Taras Didych, head of the Dmytrivka community that includes Buzova, earlier spoke of dozens of bodies when talking to ukrainian television but declined to offer specifics.
‘There are other people who we cannot find. They could be in different places but this doesn’t lessen the pain of the loss of loved ones’, he added.
Meanwhile, a mere 20 miles away in another area recently occupied by Russian forces, a ukrainian woman has mounted a tragic vigil beside the ruins of a destroyed building which could contain the bodies of her mother, aunt and cousin.
anna Matviienko, 32, told sky news she was still clinging to hope after being told some residents were forcibly removed by Russian forces before the block in Borodyanka was levelled. she has come to the site for five days straight in the hopes of hearing news of her family’s fate, having been trying to help them escape the area via telephone instructions just before the blast.
‘We will also come tomorrow. it is hard because we don’t know anything exactly – whether they are alive or not. We cannot find them anywhere.’
and in a heart-breaking plea to the camera, she said: ‘Mum, auntie and Kiril, if you are listening, my message is that we are looking for you and we definitely will find you. it doesn’t matter where you are in Belarus or Russia, we will find you.’
Firefighters are still searching through wreckage sites in Borodyanka, which lies outside Kyiv and is only about 15 miles from Bucha – the now notorious site of a civilian massacre.
President Volodymyr Zelensky previously warned even worse atrocities might have occurred in Borodyanka, although evidence of such killings there is yet to emerge.
ukraine’s prosecutor general iryna Venediktova has told sky news that bodies of 1,222 killed ukrainians had been found in the Kyiv region.
On the battlefield, the ukrainian defence ministry yesterday said it had used British-made starstreak ManPaDs missiles for the first time and destroyed a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle Orlan-10.
President Zelensky said he had spoken with German Chancellor Olaf scholz about additional sanctions, as well as more defence and financial support for his country.
Mr Zelensky also discussed with ukrainian officials Kyiv’s proposals for a new package of Eu sanctions, his office said.
in a video address late on saturday, Mr Zelensky renewed his appeal for a total ban on Russian energy products and more weapons for ukraine.
The Eu on Friday banned Russian coal imports among other products but has yet to touch oil and gas imports from Russia.
‘We are still looking for you’