Russian forces have held 11 mayors captive and have killed one in detention, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a social media post on Sunday. 

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“Up to today, 11 heads of local communities in the regions of Kyiv, Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Donetsk are in captivity,” Vereshchuk said in a video message posted on her Telegram account. 

She further added that Kyiv will ask the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN and other organizations to intervene. 

Vereshchuk further said that the Ukrainian governement had on Saturdat learnt that the mayor of Motyzhyn Olga Sukhenko was killed in captivity. 

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“This is a war crime, those responsible will be punished in line with international humanitarian law,” Vereshchuk said.

The Deputy Prime Minister added that Ukraine will work towards ensuring that the civilians, mayors, priests, journalists, and activists are liberated from detention.

UK’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in the meantime called for Russia’s attacks on civilians to be investigated as war crimes. She in a statement that the government is seeing “increasing evidence of appalling acts by the invading forces in towns such as Irpin and Bucha”, close to Kyiv.

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Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Sunday scores of killed civilians have been found on the streets of Kyiv’ suburbs of Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel after the withdrawal of Russian troops. He compared the scene to “a horror movie.”

Arestovych said some victims were shot in the head and had their hands bound, and some of the bodies had signs of torture. He accused Russian troops of raping women and trying to burn their bodies.

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Arestovych said Ukrainian authorities will investigate the alleged war crimes and track down the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, Russia’s top negotiator in talks with Ukraine said it’s too early to talk about a meeting between the two countries’ presidents.