Mayor Of Bucha Says So Far Successfully Find 403 Bodies, President Putin Calls Fake

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin called pictures and videos of bodies in the Ukrainian city of Bucha a false accusation, as the mayor said hundreds of bodies had been recovered so far.

Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said on Tuesday that authorities had so far recovered 403 bodies of people they believe were killed by Russian forces during their occupation of the area, but that the number was growing.

Anatoliy Fedoruk said in a statement that it was too early for residents to return to the city after Russian troops withdrew late last month, cited from Reuters, April 13.

Reuters could not immediately verify Fedoruk's comments on the number of people found dead in Bucha. Reuters has seen the remains of five victims in Bucha who were shot in the head, but has not been able to independently determine who was responsible.

Moscow, which has repeatedly denied targeting civilians since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, has called allegations that Russian troops executed civilians in Bucha while they were occupying the city a "horrific fabrication" aimed at degrading Russian soldiers.

Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin said pictures and footage of bodies strewn across the Ukrainian city of Bucha were fake.

Speaking at a televised press conference following talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, President Putin compared Ukraine's accusations to Syria's.

According to him, accusations of Russian soldiers executing civilians in Bucha by what he says are staging by the West, are not much like chemical weapons attacks in Syria aimed at incriminating Bashar al-Assad.

"This is the same kind of fake in Bucha," said President Putin.

Earlier, Ukraine accused the Russian military of executing residents of Bucha, a town outside the capital Kyiv that Russian troops had occupied for several weeks before withdrawing. Western countries have called for those responsible for killing civilians to be punished.

Instead, Russian authorities have accused Ukraine of staging gruesome scenes to derail peace talks, prompting the West to impose more sanctions on Moscow.

It is known that Russia sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24, in what it called a special operation to undermine the country's military capabilities, rooting out what it called dangerous nationalists.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have fought back and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions in a bid to force Russia to withdraw.