(NewsNation) — The world is getting a glimpse at the grisly horrors of war as images from Ukraine emerged showing what appeared to be deliberate killings of dozens if not hundreds of civilians at the hands of Russian ground forces.
The battered bodies seen out in the open or in hastily dug graves were discovered as Ukrainian forces retook territory on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv.
In Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, bodies wrapped in black plastic were piled on one end of a mass grave in a churchyard. Many of the victims had been shot in cars or killed in explosions trying to flee the city.
In what has been called a “scene from a horror movie,” scores of killed civilians were found on the streets of Bucha and the Kyiv suburbs of Irpin and Hostomel.
“Dead people have been found in barrels, basements, strangled, tortured,” said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who again called on Russia to move quickly to negotiate an end to the war.
The images may be disturbing for some to view, but in their release, the gruesome scenes have led to heightened awareness and growing global condemnation of Russian aggression and accusations of war crimes against Moscow.
The Associated Press contribued to this report.