(FiveNation.com)- At least thirteen dead Ukrainians were discovered today along a highway leading out of Kyiv after being abandoned by the fleeing Russian military. In a monstrous act, they booby-trapped some of the bodies.
This is the same road where, in shocking overhead drone footage, Russian soldiers were seen on tape executing a young couple.
Russians continue to slaughter non-soldiers, as reported by western journalists who are witnessing the atrocities.
Western journalists following advancing Ukrainian troops have unearthed further proof of Putin’s army committing war crimes. The mayor of one city alleged 300 people were slain in the previous month.
On Friday, soldiers and volunteers were seen dragging corpse bags down a destroyed section of road in Irpin. A dozen victims were stuffed into black plastic body bags, lined up on the concrete, and put into vehicles.
The commuter area northwest of Kyiv, which had been a significant battleground for weeks, is now firmly in Ukrainian hands, a wasteland filled with burned-out tanks. Now that Ukraine’s soldiers have forced Russia out of the region, the task of collecting the dead can begin.
Now the actual scope of the city’s carnage is becoming clear.
Before Russian President Vladimir Putin started his invasion, the Ukraine city had roughly 60,000 people. Around 3,500 people remained in Irpin, according to Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn, and officials are still seeking civilians hiding in their basements.
Still under fire from Russian artillery, he’s urged the people not to return to their homes.
The atrocities committed by Russian troops are well documented.
A Russian tank crew opened fire on Maksim Iowenko, his wife Ksjena, and their six-year-old kid. They were part of a 10-car convoy heading down the road.
Maksim stopped the car and got out with his hands up in disturbing footage from March 7. Despite the evident gesture of surrender, Russian forces killed him down in broad daylight. They were concealed in a tree line along the side of the road. The ambush also took the life of how wife.
The footage, captured by a drone flown by the Ukrainian military’s Bugatti drone unit, showed his corpse slumping to the ground.
His wife was also slain in the incident, but their child and an older woman in the car with Maksim escaped. They were subsequently seen wandering along the road after being freed by Russian soldiers.
Maksim had been yelling that a child was in the car when Russian forces slew him, she informed her relatives.
Although the film did not show that the automobile was on fire during the incident, journalists discovered it burnt out and what they assumed to be Maksim’s scorched remains. They theorized that the Russian soldiers set fire to the truck to obliterate proof of the atrocity.
Other signs of attempted body destruction were also discovered. Bodies were buried beneath tires with burnt clothes, while others were allowed to decay. According to the BBC, only two of the dead found on the same stretch of road bore identifiable Ukrainian military uniforms.
Under international humanitarian law, the massacre of civilians, particularly those who do not constitute a danger, is considered a war crime.
Moscow has denied targeting citizens and civilian areas. Thousands of images, videos, and eyewitness statements show that this is not the case.
The human rights organization, Amnesty International, gathered evidence of medieval techniques such as indiscriminate strikes, interruption of essential utilities, communications cutbacks, damage to civilian infrastructure, and limits on access to medication and healthcare.
Prosecutors will have to establish that the assaults in Ukraine were not accidents or collateral damage to indict Russia of war crimes.
