- A Ukrainian mayor told CNN that he witnessed a family get killed by a Russian military strike.
- "They were killed in a matter of seconds," Oleksandr Markushyn, the mayor of Irpin,
Ukraine , said.
A Ukrainian mayor said that he witnessed a local family trying to escape to safety amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine be "killed in a matter of seconds" by a Russian military strike over the weekend.
The family, which included two children, was among those killed in a Russian mortar attack on Sunday in Irpin, a town on the northwest outskirts of Ukraine's capital of Kyiv, Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn told CNN on Monday.
"A group of people were being led to evacuate, and within 50 meters, I saw a mortar ordinance blew up and killed two children, tore them in two in front of my very eyes, plus their parents," Markushyn told CNN. "They were killed in a matter of seconds."
About eight civilians, which includes the family, were killed in the attack, Markushyn told The Associated Press.
The fleeing civilians were running through the streets of Irpin and attempting to cross a destroyed bridge to Kyiv when the shelling started, The New York Times reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, saying: "They were just trying to get out of town. To escape. The whole family. How many such families have died in Ukraine? We will not forgive. We will not forget."
Markushyn told CNN that
"These are not an army, these are animals," the mayor said. "They're killing civilians. They're shelling out our city, our residential buildings, and ambulances. They're firing on ambulances. This is just a monstrosity."
Markushyn told CNN that the checkpoint where Sunday's attack in Irpin unfolded has been targeted by Russian forces in recent days.
He told CNN that Russian forces shelled a train on the first day of Irpin's evacuation efforts and blew up the rail track on the second day, wounding three people.
Markushyn told CNN that Russian forces are "targeting these routes" and "trying to intimidate" the people of Irpin.
Meanwhile, the United Nations human rights office said on Monday that as of Sunday, at least 406 Ukrainian civilians, including 27 children, have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said at least 801 civilians were injured, including 29 children.
The OHCHR stressed that it "believes that the real figures are considerably higher."