Ukranian intelligence has identified the ‘Butcher of Bucha’, the Russian commander behind the mass graves surrounding Kyiv, the Mirror reported. 

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The suspected Russian officer is identified as Lt Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov. He leads the 64th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade, which occupied the Kyiv region. 

Ukrainian activists also identified the presence of Omurbekov’s forces, the Mirror stated. 

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InformNapalm, a volunteer initiative to inform Ukrainian citizens and the foreign public about the Russo-Ukrainian War, named Omurbekov as the commander of unit 51460. 

Meanwhile, Russia faced international backlash, especially from the West, after images of mass graves in the areas around Kyiv went viral. The maypr of Bucha Anatoliy Fedoruk, after admitting that the city had about 280 civilians buried in mass graves, said that Moscow will not be forgiven for its actions. 

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The images of battered bodies out in the open or in hastily dug graves also led to calls for tougher economic sanctions against the Kremlin, namely a cutoff of fuel imports from Russia.

Ukraine has found 410 bodies in towns near Kyiv as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russia, the country’s top prosecutor said on Sunday. 

President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Bucha and described the massacre as a ‘genocide’ and ‘war crime’. 

“Dead people have been found in barrels, basements, strangled, tortured,” said Zelensky, who again called on Russia to move quickly to negotiate an agreement to end to the war.

US President Joe Biden also called for a war crimes trial for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. 

“This guy is brutal, and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous,” said Biden, who also promised to increase sanctions against Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the scenes outside Kyiv as a “stage-managed anti-Russian provocation.” The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected allegations of atrocities as fakery on Ukraine’s part.

Lavrov said the mayor of Bucha made no mention of atrocities a day after Russian troops left last week, but two days later scores of bodies were photographed scattered in the streets.