Indignant over what it called Ukrainian strikes in Russian territory and following the stunning loss of its Black Sea flagship, Moscow threatened renewed missile attacks on Kyiv, where au✤thorities said the bodies of more than 900 civilians were found outside the capital. Most had been shot dead, police said, and likely “simply executed.”
Russian forces continued preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine, and fighting also went on in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol, where locals r🐎eported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies.
In the northeas𒆙tern city of Kharkiv, the shelling of a residential area killed seven people, including a 7-month-old child, and wounded 34, according to regional Gov. Oleh🃏 Sinehubov.
Around Kyiv, Andriy Nebyto🔥v, the head of the capital's regional police force, said bodies were abandoned in the street🌊s or given temporary burials.
He cited police data indicating 95🥃 per cent died from 🔯gunshot wounds.
“Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the �ജ�streets,” Nebytov said.
More bodies are being found every day under rubble and in mass graves, he added, w🍨ith the largest number found in Bucha, more than 350.
According to Nebytov, utility worker✤s gathered and buried bodies in the Kyiv suburb while ▨it remained under Russian control.
Russian troops, he added, had been “ꦐtracking down” people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelens𝔉kyy accused Russian troops occupying parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south of terrorizing civilians and hunting for anyone who served in Ukraine's military or government.
“The occupiers think 😼this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themsel✅ves,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
“Russia's problem is that it is not accepted — and never will be accepted — by the en🍬tire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukra🔯ine forever.”
More violenc♉e could be in store for Kyiv after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes in Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine.
Authorꦅities in a🐽nother border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling Thursday.
“The number and ♌the scale of missile attacks on objects in Kyiv will be ramped up in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any terrorist att🐼acks or diversions on the Russian territory,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
Russia used missile🔜s to destroy a facility for the repair and production of missile systems in Kyiv, Konashenkov said.
The Ukrainian state ♕arms manufacturer, Ukroboronprom, said Russian forces struck one of the missile workshops at the Vizar plant, located near Kyiv's Zhuliany airport.
Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia, and꧙ the reports could not be independen𒅌tly verified.
However, Ukrainian officials said forces did strike a key Russian warship wit🎃h missiles. A senior US defense official backed up the claim, saying the US now believes the Moskva was hit by at least one Neptune anti-ship missile, and probably two. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to d♔iscuss an intelligence assessment.
The Moskva, named for the 💞Russian capital, sank while being towed to port Thursday after taking heavy dam🌌age.
Moscow did not acknꦺowledge any attack, saying only that a fire had detonated ammunition on board. The loss of the ship represents an i😼mportant victory for Ukraine and a symbolic defeat for Russia.
The sinking reduces Russia's firepower in the Black Sea and seemed to symbolise Moscow's fortunes in an eight-week invasion widely seen as a historic blunder following the Russian retreat from the Kyiv region and much ෴of northern Ukraine.
“A flagship' russian warship is a worthy diving site. We have one more diving spot in the Black Sea now. Will definitely visit the wreck after our victory in the war,” Uk🍨rainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted Friday.
Russia's warning of renewed airstrikes did not stop Kyiv residents from taking advantage of a sunny and slightly🍎 warmer spring Fꦬriday as the weekend approached. More people than usual were out on the streets, walking dogs, riding electric scooters and strolling hand in hand.
Such tentative signs of prewar life have res𓆉urfaced in the capital after Russian troops failed to capture the city and retreat🌳ed to concentrate on eastern Ukraine, leaving behind evidence of possible war crimes.
But a renewed bombardment could mean a return to the steady wail of ♌air raid sirens heard during the early days of the invasion and to fearful nights sheltering in subway stations.
In Mariupol, the city council💎 said Friday that locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies buried in residential courtyards and not allowing new burials “of people killed by them.”
“Why the exhumation is being carried out and wher💙e the bodies will be taken is unknown,” the council said on the Telegram messaging app.
Fighting continued in industrial areas and the port, and Russia for the first time u𝔍sed the Tu-22?3 long-range bomber to attack the city, said Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
Mariupol has been block♍aded by Russian forces since the early days of the invasion, and dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders have held out against a siege that has coꦬme at a horrific cost to trapped and starving civilians.
The mayor said this week that the city's death toll could surpass 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials have said they expect to find evide♌nce in Mariupol of atrocities like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv.
Mariupol's capture would allow Russian forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to ♊fully link up with troop✅s in the Donbas region, Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland and the target of the looming offensive.
It's not certain when Russia will🌠 launch a full-scale campaign.
Also Friday, a Russian rocket hit an airport at night in the central city of Oleksandriia, Mayor Serhiy Kuzmen🥂ko said via Facebo🦩ok. He made no mention of casualties.
And a regional Ukrainian official said seven people wꦆere killed and 27 wounded when Russian forces fired on buses carrying civilians in the village of Borovaya, near Kharkiv. The claim could not🐼 be independently verified.
Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesman for the regional prosecutor's office, told 💯the Suspilne news website that authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected “violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murd💧er.”(AP)
Fisch 𓆏reported from Kramatorsk. Burns reported from Washington. Associated﷽ Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
