Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed the atrocities committed by Russian troops in certain parts of his country are worse than those carried out during the Nazi occupation 80 years ago. Members of the international media have reported witnessing bodies with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture in Bucha after Russian soldiers withdrew from the city on the outskirts of Kyiv.
And, despite Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claiming that the dead bodies were “staged”, Mr Zelensky, in a video message that was released during the early hours of Tuesday morning, has warned that the "mass killing of civilians" could be even worse in other Ukrainian cities. He said: "There is ample evidence that it is Russian troops who destroy peaceful cities, abduct, torture, kill civilians.
"At present, there is information about more than 300 people killed and tortured in Bucha alone. It is likely that the list of victims will be much larger when the whole city is checked.
"And this is only one city. There is already information that the number of victims of the occupiers may be even higher in Borodyanka and some other liberated cities.
"In many villages of the liberated districts of the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the occupiers did things that the locals had not seen even during the Nazi occupation 80 years ago."
Zelensky tells Romania that Russia is 'willing to sacrifice millions of lives'
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky told the Romanian parliament during a video address that he believes Vladimir Putin's Russia is "willing to sacrifice millions of lives" to realise its "crazy ideas". Mr Zelensky also recalled the horrors of Romania's Ceaușescu regime and showed a "brutal" video from the city of Bucha, referring to 300 civilians being "tortured, executed or otherwise killed" in the city on the outskirts of Kyiv.
He added: "The name of our city of Bucha is now forever in world history - in the history of war crimes and in the history of the extermination of people." Invoking memories of the Ceaușescu regime, Mr Zelensky continued: "The Romanian people revolted and defended themselves, saved themselves, having overthrown inadequate power because that was the only way.
"Ceaușescu, his wife, his entourage, his 'Securitate' could not be convinced of anything. It is also impossible to convince those who promote war in Russia now, who give criminal orders, who develop plans for the genocide of the Ukrainian people and the destruction of the Ukrainian state.
"These people are inadequate. They have lost all connection with reality and are willing to sacrifice millions of lives to realise their crazy ideas."
'It's like a horror story,' admit people of Bucha
Nadia Melnychuk, who owns a cottage in Bucha with her husband Roman, has said knowing that neighbours have been killed in their “little, beautiful city” is “like a horror story”. The 27-year-old PR manager told the PA news aganecy: “We didn’t want to see this life, we didn’t want to have war.
“In February and January we had a simple, happy life there, with different plans and dreams for our future and, after that, we lost everything we had. We don't even know if our house is still there.”
The couple left Bucha for western Ukraine as soon as they could when the bombing started. “It’s like a horror story,” Ms Melnychuk added. “We know that some of our neighbours, who live not far from our cottage house, have been killed."
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