This story contains graphic descriptions and pictures.
According to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, Ukrainian law enforcement officials have uncovered a torture room in Bucha, just outside of Kyiv.
Russian forces tortured and killed civilians in the torture room, the bureau claimed.
“Soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation tortured and then killed unarmed civilians,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a Facebook post about the alleged torture room.
The Prosecutor General’s Office shared photos they say show several Ukrainians killed in the room. The Daily Beast has not independently verified the photos, although Reuters provided photos of the men allegedly killed in the room.
The discovery is the latest in a series of horrifying revelations about alleged Russian atrocities in Ukraine since the war began in February. Only this weekend did Ukrainian authorities and journalists discover mass graves in Bucha containing Ukrainians allegedly shot dead by Russian forces. Images of dead naked women, some of them burned, have also emerged from Bucha in recent days. Ukrainians were also handcuffed behind their backs and shot in the street, pictures from the city show.
And although Russia has denied accusations that it was behind the series of disturbing killings, suggesting they happened after Russia began withdrawing from the region, satellite imagery shared with The Daily Beast and first published by the New York Times published that Russia is lying through its teeth. Many of the bodies in question lay on the streets of Bucha some 20 days before Russia left.
Satellite imagery by private company Maxar Technologies, shared with The Daily Beast on Sunday, also appears to show a 45-foot trench being dug in Bucha — the excavation began March 10, well before Russian troops left, Maxar said .
President Joe Biden on Monday labeled Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” and said Putin should be tried for war crimes as the disturbing images emerged from Bucha and other cities in Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court is already investigating alleged war crimes in Ukraine together with a Ukrainian investigation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the killings a “genocide,” while the Biden administration stopped using the label. But Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that the label is still not out of the question.
Sullivan suggested that Ukrainians and the rest of the world should be prepared for more heartless attacks and gloomy images from Ukraine, even as Russia works to change its game and focus more on the country’s eastern regions.
“We should have no illusions that Russia will adjust its tactics, which have included and likely will continue to include brazen attacks on civilian targets,” Sullivan said in a briefing on Monday, warning that while Moscow will withdraw from Kyiv , but Russian forces would likely continue to launch air and missile strikes in Ukraine.
Images of atrocities in Ukraine have prompted world leaders to tighten sanctions on Russia — the European Union is working to roll out a new sanctions package and the Biden administration is preparing to do so later this week to announce new sanctions against Russia White House.