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- War crimes uncovered after Russians pulled out-Zelenskiy
- Kherson residents recount abuse by Russian forces
- De-mining of Kherson and power restoration underway
- Fighting rages in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday visited the newly recaptured southern city of Kherson, the biggest prize yet won by Ukrainian forces, where he has accused Russian forces of committing war crimes before they fled last week.
“We are moving forward,” he told troops standing in formation in front of the administration building in the city’s main square, where parents had also turned out with children, some pushing baby strollers, some waving Ukrainian flags or draped in them. “We are ready for peace, peace for all our country.”
Zelenskiy thanked NATO and other allies for their ongoing support in the war against Russia and said the delivery of rockets from the United States had made a big difference for Kyiv.
“I’m really happy, you can tell by the reaction of the people, their reaction is not staged,” the president said.
Minutes before he arrived, nearby shelling could be heard from the centre of Kherson, and after he finished speaking several more blasts of artillery echoed over the city.
Kherson residents have greeted arriving Ukrainian troops with joy since Friday, when Russia abandoned the only regional capital it had captured since Moscow launched its invasion.
In an overnight televised address, Zelenskiy said investigators had already documented more than 400 war crimes committed by the Russia’s during their eight month occupation.
“Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found,” he said. “The Russian army left behind the same savagery it did in other regions of the country it entered.”
Reuters has spoken to residents in formerly occupied parts of Kherson region in recent days who have described killings and abductions of civilians, but has not verified such reports independently.
Russia denies its troops intentionally target civilians or have committed atrocities in occupied areas. Mass burial sites have been found in several other parts of Ukraine previously occupied by Russian troops, including some with civilian bodies showing signs of torture, which Kyiv blames on Moscow.
‘INVITED INTO A CELLAR’
Residents interviewed by Reuters said they had tried to minimize contact with the Russians and knew of people who were arrested and abused for any discernable Ukrainian patriotism.
Russian soldiers “would approach you in the street and ask if you were Ukrainian or Russian. If you said Ukrainian, they would take you away,” Natalia Papernaya, a 43-year-old clothing designer, said on Sunday.
The Russians, she said, had arrested her friend for taking a photo of a neighbour’s home to reassure the owners it had survived a nearby shell blast. The troops had pulled her friend’s hood over her eyes, taped it in place, put her in a cellar for a day and demanded to know for whom she was taking pictures.
“They didn’t touch her,” Papernaya said, but the friend heard the screams of other detainees and some who were forced to shout out praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“There were many people in there, women and men,” she said.
Yana Shaposhnikova, 36, another clothing designer, said she had buried her yellow and blue Ukrainian flag.