The Ukrainian population and called accusations of war crimes a monstrous forgery but in the areas recently liberated from russian forces civilians have started to emerge with their horrific testimonies of torture summary executions mass graves rape and disappearances in trusteenet which lies just a few kilometers from the border with russia and was occupied by moscow's forces for a month the full horror of what happened there is only now coming to light.
It's clear that there was quite a fierce battle that took place here at the train station in trustee nx you can see behind me that these destroyed trains all the windows are also barricaded up with ammunition boxes and on the other side of the main building of the train station it's basically just a muddy cratered apocalyptic moonscape but what's even more dark about this location is we've been talking to civilians who told us that underneath the train station several people were held and tortured for at least 10 days. We spoke to one man who told us about his experiences this is andre we've been asked to protect his identity the 33 year old was detained by russian soldiers after leaving home to get supplies. He says he was taken from the street bound blindfolded beaten subjected to electric shocks and threatened with rape and genital mutilation.
He takes us to the room under the railway terminal where he and seven others were held and tortured for days the walls are still smeared with their blood survivor dima tells us one of the eight men held was actually beaten to death in front of them the whereabouts of two others are unknown.
Their story is just one of the horrific crimes committed here since president putin launched his invasion of ukraine on the 24th of february incredibly the police force here in trustionettes actually stayed put during the entire time that the russian forces occupied this town when the russians left they found the first body that had bound hands and shown signs of torture.
They said they told me that actually it was discovered right here in this garage they show me pictures of the body and it's very clear this man had been shot in the head but also very badly beaten one of the officers who is investigating the deaths told us the corpse is among at least five bearing the signs of torture that they have found so far one was uncovered just the day before we visited the town corpses found bound shot and tortured is now a disturbingly familiar occurrence in ukraine.
Ukrainian officials say they're investigating some 7. 600 potential war crimes and at least 500 suspects meanwhile the international criminal court's chief prosecutor has joined an eu investigation into possible.
International crimes committed in the country in the kiev region alonen ukrainian police say they've uncovered the bodies of more than 900 civilians most of them have been fatally shot which the ukrainians say suggests that summary executions were prolific well right now we're on our way to butcher which is about 25 kilometers west of the centre of kiev here Ukrainian officials say 300 civilians at least have been killed human rights organizations have said that possible war crimes were committed here as well by russian forces who occupied this entire area for several weeks.
It's a grim drive through bombed out streets and a miracle people stayed put and survived on one destroyed road we meet a fifteen-year-old boy who together with his father narrowly escaped being summarily executed the only reason they survived is because a russian commander intervened at the last second bolostrashnow roman was lucky others were not he says his uncle was killed trying to get supplies and several neighbors were also shot in fact across butcher communal gardens have been turned into makeshift graves for those killed by the occupying russian forces at one of those grave sites we heard about a resident called alexander who was publicly shot for allegedly filming out of his window alexei a fellow resident says alexander's body was left for two days and was nearly eaten by dogs until his neighbors plucked up the courage to ask the soldiers to cover him with soil machines alexa also shows us how the russian soldiers systematically looted every single flat across town helena says she had to help dig graves outside her building for three residents who were murdered one man she says was killed by russian soldiers who threw a grenade at him for no reason putting has witnessed killings on such a large scale that mass graves had to be dug local priest father andre isn't sure how many bodies he buried he stopped counting at 100.
So this grave has now been exhumed and the long process of identification has begun bodies are still being unearthed every day on our way back to the capital we came across soldiers who had just made a gruesome discovery.
We just stumbled upon some ukrainian soldiers who took us into the woods here to show us what was the remains of a russian camp so I don't know if you can see behind me but there's trenches and basically kind of living quarters there's also burnt out um armored cars everywhere and tanks and also unfortunately just to the left of me um is the remains of what the soldiers here say is a 16 year old boy his hands have been tied behind his back his feet have been tied and it's clear that he's been shot in the back the soldiers are careful not to touch the body which they found just a few days ago fearing it might be booby-trapped they say it lies just a few meters away from the bound and shot body of two ukrainian soldiers no one knows exactly what happened but it is a grim reminder of what would have been the daily reality here civilians were however not just contending with torture and summary executions.
Many have lost loved ones in the ferocious bombardment we traveled to boradienka to meet families who for the first time were hoping to get news of their loved ones so we're being redirected at the moment through a forest because the main to buryanka where we're heading the bridge has been destroyed in the fighting so we've been redirected by the security forces through the forest and this is basically the case all over this area because whole swathes of the infrastructure bridges areas roads have been destroyed in the fighting and some of them are also mined the level of destruction means mans bodies have yet to be recovered this building was actually bombed on the 2nd of march but it's taken until today which is over a month later for it to be cleared the authorities at the moment are digging through the rubble trying to find any bodies there's obviously no hope of any survivors we meet vadim among those waiting anxiously for the news his family were inside this building when the bomb struck he by a miracle happened to be outside these emotional and physical scars are something the population of trustionettes is also having to come to terms with andre still cannot feel his hands and has wounds on his legs dima says he still has nightmares about his experiences you
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