Ukraine on Saturday accused Russian forces of shooting dead 24 civilians, including children, in an attack on a road convoy near the recently retaken city of Kupyansk.
On Friday, Ukrainian troops had shown AFP reporters outside the village of Kyrylivka, a short distance east of Kupiansk, a group of vehicles riddled with bullet holes and several dead bodies in civilian clothes.
Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov put the preliminary death toll at 24, including a pregnant woman and 13 children, claiming: “The Russians fired on the civilians at point-blank range.”
The Kharkiv region prosecutor’s office said: “On September 30, prosecutors, investigators from the Security Service and the police discovered a convoy of seven cars that had been shot at.
“The line of cars was fired upon by the Russian army on September 25 as civilians tried to evacuate,” the statement said.
“Two cars with children and their parents in them were completely burned – they were burned alive,” it said.
Ukrainian officials have launched an investigation, claiming that Russian forces who were driven out of Kyrylivka last Sunday were behind the latest apparent massacre of the war.
“The occupiers are being defeated on the battlefield and are reacting in desperation by killing civilians,” said the head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Malyuk.
“We will find everyone and hold them accountable for atrocities committed,” he said. “Several people managed to escape from hell. Now they are testifying to the investigators.”
Governor Synegubov’s spokeswoman told AFP the location of the killings is still uncertain for investigators because it is not far from the still-active front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
On Friday, AFP reporters counted the bodies of at least 11 civilians in the wrecked cars, some burned beyond recognition.
Ukrainian troops operating nearby said they found the bodies on an exposed stretch of road alongside a railway track as defeated Russian forces retreated from the area.
– bullet holes –
On Friday, the bodies remained where they had died, in and around vehicles on a road running south-east of Kyryliivka 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of Kharkiv towards the Russian retreat.
A small van or minibus burned to the ground with the charred remains of four people inside. At least one of these bodies appeared small enough to have been a child.
“The vehicles all moved together as a civilian convoy. We can see that there is almost no distance between the vehicles,” said Filya, a Ukrainian soldier who guided AFP to the scene of the crime.
“And obviously they were shot at because you can see the bullet holes… A car was set on fire and it’s impossible to spot the people without an expert,” he said.
Russia’s February invasion allowed Moscow to seize part of northern and eastern Ukraine, but this month a lightning-fast Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region has driven them back.
Russian occupying forces have been accused of repeatedly abusing and murdering civilians during the seven-month war and have hit cities with deadly rocket attacks.
