Russian troops accused of slaughtering civilians as they withdraw from Bucha near Kyiv

2 April 2022, 11:14

Russian troops have been accused of 'murdering civilians in cold blood' as Ukrainian troops took back the town of Bucha near Kyiv.

The Russian army was accused of 'war crimes' after footage emerged showing dozens of slain civilians on roads in Bucha, north west of Kyiv.

Another picture being circulated online today showed the corpses of several non-combatants who appeared to have been gunned down in cold blood. The image shows one man lying dead with his hands tied behind his back.

The local mayor shared the news last night that Bucha had been 'liberated' and the Russians pushed back.

Kyiv claimed that 17,700 Russian troops have now been killed since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion.

Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk announced on Friday night that the town outside Kyiv had been reclaimed the previous day, adding that 31 March “will go down in the history of our town... as the day of its liberation from Russia”.

Read more: British-made Starstreak missile 'shoots down Russian helicopter' in Ukraine

Read more: Raid on Russian fuel depot 'will hamper stretched invaders'

John Sweeney reports from Kyiv as Russian forces retreat

But not long afterwards harrowing footage appearing to show the slaughter of civilians emerged online.

One person shared the footage online writing: "My brother sent this to me. Town of Bucha northwest of Kyiv. The amount of dead citizens on one street alone…I just can’t even process."

Ukrainian journalist Oleksiy Sorokin posted another clip showing at least three dead civilians. He wrote: "Terrifying videos have surfaced from Kyiv’s suburb of Bucha, where civilians were shot by Russian troops.

"We still know only about a fraction of the war crimes that Russia has already committed. The scope of Russian brutality is yet to be seen."

The Ministry of Defence said in an update today that Ukrainian forces were continuing their advance against retreating Russian troops near Kyiv.

“Ukrainian forces’ attempts to advance from Irpin towards Bucha & Hostomel are ongoing,” the MoD said.

Video filmed by Ukrainian troops in Bucha shows a Ukrainian soldier describing how the Russians mined a children’s play area, and that they found bodies of civilians of all ages lying on the roads.

It comes as the Russians are carrying out a withdrawal to eastern Donbas regions of the south east of Ukraine.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is now in to its sixth week A Red Cross convoy travelling to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol will make another attempt to evacuate civilians from the besieged port today.

Mariupol has been targeted relentlessly by the Russians since the early days of the war.

It is estimated that around 100,000 people are trapped there with little access to food and water.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sent a team on Friday to lead about 54 Ukrainian buses and other private vehicles out of the city.

But they turned back after finding conditions were too dangerous.

There have been several failed attempts to get civilians out over the last few weeks - with Russia accused of breaking ceasefires after agreeing them - and targeting people as they try and flee.