The destruction to the town of Borodyanka is "much more horrific" than what has already been uncovered in nearby Bucha, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said in his newest Facebook address to the nation late on Thursday.
"They have started sorting through the ruins in Borodyanka," Zelensky said in his remarks from Kyiv.
"It's much more horrific there. There are even more victims of Russian occupiers."
Both towns are suburbs of Kyiv and saw fierce fighting in the battle for the capital.
Ukraine forces say that as they have retaken towns near Kyiv previously occupied by Russian forces, they're discovering more and more atrocities. Last week's discovery of bodies strewn in the streets in Bucha prompted global outcry and accusations of genocide.
Ukrainian leaders predicted there would be more gruesome discoveries in the days ahead after retreating Russian forces left behind crushed buildings, streets strewn with destroyed cars and mounting civilian casualties that drew condemnation from across the globe.
Kremlin forces devastated the northern city of Chernihiv as part of their attempt to sweep south toward the capital before retreating. In the aftermath, dozens of people lined up to receive bread, diapers and medicine from vans parked outside a shattered school now serving as an aid-distribution point.
The mayor of Bucha, near Kyiv, said investigators have found at least three sites of mass shootings of civilians during the Russian occupation. Most victims died from gunshots, not from shelling, he said, and some corpses with their hands tied were “dumped like firewood” into recently discovered mass graves, including one at a children’s camp.
Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said the count of dead civilians stood at 320 as of Wednesday, but he expected the number to rise as more bodies are found in his city, which once had a population of 50,000. Only 3,700 now remain, he said.
On Thursday, Zelenskiy said the situation in the town of Borodyanka was “much worse” than Bucha. “The work to clear the rubble in Borodyanka has begun … it’s significantly more dreadful there. Even more victims from the Russian occupiers,” he said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging service. The town is about 15 miles (24km) from Bucha.
Video from Borodyanka showed search and rescue teams using heavy equipment to dig through the rubble of a building that collapsed. Hundreds of people were feared buried.
On the battlefield, Ukraine says after withdrawing from Kyiv’s outskirts, Russia is regrouping to try to gain full control over the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which have been partly held by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.
The besieged southern port of Mariupol, where more than 100,000 people are believed to be still trapped, was also a target.
Both sides have continued to trade accusations, with Moscow opening a criminal investigation into a Russian soldier’s allegations that he was beaten and threatened with death while being held in Ukraine as a prisoner of war.
Separately, a social media video verified by Reuters and geolocated to an area west of Kyiv appears to show Ukrainian forces shooting and killing a captured and badly wounded Russian soldier.
