President Zelensky Calls Russian Forces To Crime War In Kherson

President Zelensky. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday accused Moscow soldiers of war crimes and killed civilians in Kherson, some of whom were recaptured by Ukrainian soldiers last week after Russia withdrew.

"Investigators have documented more than 400 Russian war crimes. The bodies of civilians and dead soldiers have been found," President Zelensky said in his evening video address.

"The Russian army has left the same barbarity as it did in other regions of the country it entered," President Zelensky criticized.

Reuters could not immediately verify his allegations. Meanwhile, Russia denies its troops are deliberately targeting civilians.

Mass priests have been found in a number of places in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, including civilian bodies showing evidence of torture such as in the Kharkiv region and in Bucha, near Kyiv. Ukraine accuses Russian forces of the crime.

A United Nations commission in October said war crimes were committed in Ukraine and that Russian forces were responsible for "most of" human rights abuses in the early weeks of war.

Ukrainian troops arrived at the center of the southern Kherson region on Friday, after Russia left the only regional capital it has captured since Moscow launched an invasion in February.

The withdrawal marked Russia's third major war and the first involved the surrender of the occupied major city, in the face of a major retaliatory attack on Ukraine that had reclaimed the eastern and southern parts.

Utilities companies in the Kherson region are working to restore key infrastructure damaged and mined by fleeing Russian forces, with most houses in the southern Ukrainian city still without electricity and water, regional officials said.

On Sunday, artillery fire fighting that resonated across the city, did not prevent crowds of happy and waving flags that had gathered against the cold to gather in Kherson's main square.

Kherson's governor, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said authorities had decided to maintain a curfew from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m., barring people from leaving or entering the city as a security measure.

"The enemy puts mines in all critical infrastructure," Yanushevych told Ukrainian TV. "We tried to meet in a few days and (later) opened up the city," he continued.

Earlier, President Zelensky also warned Kherson residents about the existence of Russian mines.

"I ask you not to forget that the situation in the Kherson region remains very dangerous," President Zelensky urged.