Situation in second Ukraine town 'more dreadful' than Bucha: Zelensky

Kyiv: With images of civilian bodies littering the streets of Bucha sparking a global outcry, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday (April 7, 2022) informed that the situation in the town of Borodyanka was "significantly more dreadful". 

The Ukrainian President said that the situation in Borodyanka, where Russian forces` suspected killings of civilians have been broadly condemned, is worse. 

According to the Ukrainian officials over 300 people were killed by Russian forces in Bucha, 35 kilometres northwest of the capital Kyiv, and around 50 of them were executed.

On the other hand, Russia denied targeting civilians and said that the pictures of bodies in Bucha were staged by the Ukrainian government to justify more sanctions against Moscow and derail peace negotiations.

"The work to clear the rubble in Borodyanka has begun ... It`s significantly more dreadful there. Even more victims from the Russian occupiers," Zelensky said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging service. The town of Borodyanka is about 25 km from Bucha. 

The killing of civilians in the town of Bucha have been widely condemned by the West as war crimes, building pressure for stricter sanctions against Russia.

"And what will happen when the world learns the whole truth about what the Russian military did in Mariupol?" Zelensky asked.

"There, on almost every street, is what the world saw in Bucha and other towns in the Kyiv region after the withdrawal of Russian troops."

Earlier, Moscow claimed that one of the aims of its military campaign is to "liberate" largely Russian-speaking places such as the southern port of Mariupol from the threat of genocide by Ukrainian nationalists, who it says have used civilians as human shields.

Zelensky has rejected those claims, saying they are a baseless pretext for Russia`s invasion.

(With agency inputs)