‘Just as terrible’: Zelensky says scenes in liberated Kharkiv similar to Bucha and Irpin

Russia has been accused of carrying out a massacre in Bucha

Ukraine’s president has hinted of further potential Russian war crimes being uncovered, this time in the newly-liberated region of Kharkiv.

Volodymyr Zelensky said scenes in territories reclaimed by the country’s forces were “just as terrible” as Irpin and Bucha.

Speaking via a video link with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mr Zelensky gave no further details as to what has been uncovered in Kharkiv.

Russia has been accused of war crimes several times during the war, a claim Moscow has always denied.

In April, images emerged documenting the killing and abuse of Ukrainian civilians from the northern town of Bucha back in April.

On liberation of the town, just some 20 miles from Kyiv, Ukrainian troops found streets strewn with the bodies of civilians, amid claims they had been killed by Russian forces without provocation.

International outrage was reignited several weeks later after terrifying accounts of underground confinement, violence, shootings and summary executions against civilians in nearby Irpin began to surface.

The two Kyiv suburbs were captured by Vladimir Putin’s troops in early March when Russia had set its sights on swiftly taking control of the Ukrainian capital.

The northeastern region of Kharkiv was also a key target of Russia’s initial advance. In May, Putin’s troops were pressed back by Ukrainian forces.

Last month, Ukraine has claimed it has uncovered a mass grave containing more some 440 bodies in Izyum, in the east of the country.

Russia has vehemently denied its forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.

Last month, UN investigators said Russia had committed war crimes in Ukraine, including bombings of civilian areas, executions, torture and sexual violence.