“Civilians are shot”: Ukrainian refugees denounce abuses by Russian troops

Some of the more than two million refugees who have left Ukraine and begun to scatter across Europe and beyond bear valuable testimony in making a case for alleged war crimes.

Increasingly, those arriving at border crossings are survivors who have fled some of the cities hardest hit by Russian forces.

“It was very creepy”said Ihor Diekov, one of many who crossed the Irpin River outside Kiev on the slippery boards of a makeshift bridge after the Ukrainians blew up the concrete one to slow the Russian advance.

He heard gunshots as he crossed and saw dead bodies along the way.

“The Russians promised a (humanitarian) corridor and they did not deliver. They were shooting at civilians.”he claimed. “This is absolutely true. I was a witness. People were scared.”.

In the coming days, the world will hear more such testimonies as more people exit the fragile humanitarian corridors.

the president of UkraineVolodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that there were three active brokers in bombed areas. Residents were able to leave Sumy, in the northeast, near the Russian border; from the suburbs of Kiev, and from Energodar, the southern city where Russian forces took control of a major nuclear power plant. In all, about 35,000 people were evacuated, he added.

“Yes, I saw dead bodies of civilians”said Ilya Ivanov, who came to Poland after fleeing a town on the outskirts of Sumy where Russian forces were advancing. “They shoot civilians with machine guns”.

More departures have been announced for Thursday, as desperate people try to leave cities where food, water, medicine and other essentials were running low.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Thursday that around two million people, “every second” inhabitants of the city, had left the metropolitan area.

At least 1 million people were displaced within the country itself, in addition to the growing number of refugeessaid Antonio Vitorino, director general of the International Organization for Migration. The magnitude of the humanitarian crisis is so extreme that the “worst case scenario” contemplated in IOM’s contingency plans has already been exceeded, he noted.

Trained psychologists who speak Russian and Ukrainian are urgently needed, Vitorino added, noting that among those fleeing there are increasingly traumatized witnesses.

Thousands of people are believed to have died across Ukraine, both civilians and soldiers, since Russian forces invaded the country two weeks ago. Municipal officials in the beleaguered port city of Mariupol have said 1,200 residents were killed there, three of them in the bombing of a children’s hospital. In the country’s second largest city, Kharkiv, the prosecution reported 282 deaths of residents, including several children.

The United Nations human rights office said on Wednesday it had recorded 516 civilian deaths in the two weeks of conflict, 37 of them minors.. Most were caused by “the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact range”pointed out that the real figure would be “considerably higher”. The agency’s data does not include some areas of “intense hostilities” such as Mariupol, he added.

Some of the latest refugees have seen those deaths firsthand. Their testimonies will be a critical part of efforts to hold Russia accountable for attacks against civilians and civilian structures such as hospitals and homes.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened an investigation last week that could point to high officials for his alleged responsibility in committing war crimes, after the request of dozens of countries that make up the court. Evidence collection has begun.

US Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday joined calls for an international investigation of war crimes by the Russia and expressed outrage at the bombing of the Mariupol mother and child hospital. “There certainly must be an investigation, and we must all remain vigilant.”said.

Some countries continued to facilitate the entry of refugees. Britain He said that starting Tuesday, Ukrainians with passports can apply for a visa online and leave their fingerprints upon entry. Fewer than 1,000 visas have been granted to 22,000 Ukrainians who applied for them to join relatives in Britain.

Those who manage to escape fear for those who cannot.

“I’m afraid”said Anna Potapola, a mother of two who came to Poland from the city of Dnipro. “When we had to leave Ukraine, my children asked me if we will survive. I am very scared for the people left behind.”.