Russia carried out extrajudicial civilian killings in Ukraine, Amnesty International says

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The Russian military has carried out extrajudicial killings of civilians in Ukraine, Amnesty International said, citing witness accounts of its own.

The advocacy group published new testimony Thursday from civilians living close to the capital of Kyiv in towns and villages that Russian forces had occupied after invading on Feb. 24. Ukrainian forces re-entered the outskirts of the capital over the weekend following the Russian withdrawal.

The civilians interviewed by Amnesty International’s crisis response investigators described deliberate killings, unlawful violence and widespread intimidation by Russian troops across Kyiv’s suburbs.

A 46-year-old woman from the village of Bohdanivka, which is just east of Kyiv, said Russian troops entered her home on March 9 and forced her family into their boiler room, Amnesty International claims.

“They forced us in and slammed the door. After just a minute they opened the door, they asked my husband if he had cigarettes. He said no, he hadn’t smoked for a couple of weeks. They shot him in his right arm. The other said, ‘Finish him,’ and they shot him in the head,” the woman said. Her identity was not published.

“He didn’t die right away. From 9.30 p.m. to 4 a.m. he was still breathing, though he wasn’t conscious. I begged him … ’If you can hear me, please move your finger.’ He didn’t move his finger, but I put his hand on my knee and squeezed it. Blood was flowing out of him. When he took his last breath, I turned to my daughter and said, ‘It seems daddy has died.’”

On March 3 in Vorzel, a village just west of Bucha where hundreds of murdered civilians were reportedly found over the weekend, 18-year-old Kateryna Tkachova told Amnesty she was at home with her parents when they left to go outside into the streets where Russian tanks were.

Tkachova heard gunshots shortly after they left, she said.

“Once the tanks had passed by, I jumped over the fence to the neighbour’s house. I wanted to check if they’re alive,” she told Amnesty International.

“I looked over the fence and saw my mother lying on her back on one side of the road, and my father was face down on the other side of the street. I saw large holes in his coat. The next day I went to them. My father had six large holes in his back, my mother had a smaller hole in her chest.”

Amnesty International’s account is the latest in a string of reports accusing Russia of committing war crimes in its now six-week-long campaign in Ukraine.

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Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces and officials discovered what appeared to be the bodies of murdered civilians in the streets of Bucha, a town roughly 30 kilometres west of Kyiv.

Officials said more than 300 people were killed by Russian forces in Bucha alone, and around 50 of them were executed. The German government has satellite images indicating Russia was involved in the killing of civilians in Bucha, a security source said on Thursday.

In nearby Irpin, Russian troops “left behind them many bodies, many destroyed buildings, and they mined many places,” Mayor Oleksandr Merkushev previously told The Associated Press.

Russia has denied all accusations of war crimes.

World leaders have expressed outrage over the discoveries, and the reports sparked the West to introduce fresh sanctions on Russia on Wednesday.

The United States targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adult daughters with new penalties, and banned Americans from investing in Russia. Canada on Tuesday imposed sanctions on nine Russians and nine Belarusians for “having facilitated and enabled violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly has said that Canada will not let reported atrocities go unpunished.

“That’s exactly why Canada is petitioning the International Criminal Court and we’re also providing expertise to make sure the investigation is ongoing and ongoing fast,” she said on Wednesday.

“Why? Because we need to collect the evidence and those who committed these war crimes and crimes against humanity must be held to account.”

Agnès Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International, said a thorough investigation must take place.

“Testimonies show that unarmed civilians in Ukraine are being killed in their homes and streets in acts of unspeakable cruelty and shocking brutality,” she said in Thursday’s report.

“The intentional killing of civilians is a human rights violation and a war crime. These deaths must be thoroughly investigated, and those responsible must be prosecuted, including up the chain of command.”

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February in what it has called a special operation to diminish its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and rid people whom it has called dangerous nationalists.

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed serious sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.

Thousands have died since the beginning of the full-scale war, which shows no sign of an immediate end after Russia said Ukraine put forth a peace deal with “unacceptable” elements. Ukraine’s top negotiator dismissed that claim on Thursday, telling Reuters it was “of purely propagandistic significance.”

However, the two sides continue to work out a deal to bring an end to the war.

— with files from Reuters and The Associated Press.