Russia said on Sunday it had opened a criminal investigation into allegations that Ukrainian troops killed civilians in a Russian village captured by kyiv.
Ukraine has taken dozens of border settlements under its control in Russia’s western Kursk region since launching a surprise offensive there last August, and says around 2,000 civilians still live in areas under its occupation.
Russia has slowly pushed back Ukraine and retaken several villages.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which investigates serious crimes, alleged that Ukrainian troops “committed the murder of at least seven civilians, who were taking refuge in the basement of a residential house” in the village of Russkoe Porechnoye, about 20 kilometers from the border.
Several Russian state media outlets overnight published video, provided by the military, that they said showed Russian troops discovering several bodies in a dark basement.
AFP He could not immediately verify the claims or the video, which showed troops in a dark room removing blankets and clothing from the bodies and faces of what they said were dead civilians.
There has been no official response from Ukraine.
In a statement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of “cannibal massacre of civilians.”
Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of killing and attacking civilians during the three-year conflict.
Russian forces are accused of killing hundreds of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha during a month-long occupation at the start of the conflict.
AFP International journalists were among journalists who witnessed and photographed the bodies of murdered Ukrainian civilians, some with their hands tied, in the city.
Photographs and first-hand accounts from the city sparked outrage in the West and widespread condemnation of alleged Russian “war crimes.”
Moscow has denied committing atrocities in Bucha and accused kyiv of staging the images, a claim that has been debunked by several independent fact-checking organizations and media outlets, including AFP.
The Russian military said it retook Russkoe Porechnoye from Ukrainian control last week.
