Zelenskyy says Russian troops are hiding the bodies of civilians they killed as the Kremlin is 'really afraid' of the backlash over Bucha
- Zelenskyy said Russia is "really afraid" of the global response to hundreds of civilian bodies found in Bucha.
- He said Russia was now trying to remove bodies in other towns and cities to "hide the evidence."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was hiding the bodies of killed civilians in Ukraine because it is "really afraid" of the global backlash to the discovery of civilian bodies in Bucha.
In a speech on Wednesday night, Zelenskyy said: "It seems that the Russian leadership is really afraid that the anger of the world because of what they saw in Bucha would be repeated because of what they will see in other cities, from where we will definitely drive out the occupiers.
"We have information that the Russian troops have changed their tactics and are trying to remove the killed people from the streets and basements of the occupied territory. Killed Ukrainians. This is just an attempt to hide the evidence and nothing more."
He said that Russia's tactic would not work as Ukraine will notice who is missing.
"But they will not succeed, because they killed a lot. Responsibility cannot be avoided," he said.
"We already know about thousands of missing people. We already know about thousands of people who could be either deported to Russia or killed. There are no other options for their fate."
Hundreds of civilians were killed in Bucha, a town near Kyiv. Footage has shown bodies lying in the streets, and officials said hundreds of bodies were found around the town.
Some civilians appeared to have been killed with their hands tied behind their backs, and some with gunshot wounds to their heads.
Anatoly Fedoruk, the mayor of Bucha, told Agence France-Presse that the streets were "littered with corpses."
The city council of the southern port city of Mariupol, which has been one of the worst-hit by the invasion, said on Wednesday that Russia was trying to cover up killings by using mobile crematoriums.
"Killers cover their tracks. Russian mobile crematoriums have started operating in Mariupol," it said.
"They collect and burn the bodies of Mariupol residents murdered and killed as a result of the Russian invasion."