Russian troops pulled out the tongues of civilians and raped women, Ukrainian President Zelensky told the United Nations

Russian troops have pulled out the tongues of civilians in Ukraine, Ukraine’s president told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

Volodymyr Zelensky shared horrifying details of war crimes committed by Vladimir Putin’s troops after visiting the Kiev suburb of Bukha on Saturday, which had been liberated from Russian hands.

He told diplomats that Russia’s men tortured civilians, crushing some to death in their tanks “for fun,” raping women in front of their children and ripping out victims’ tongues “because the attacker didn’t hear what they wanted to hear from them.” . .

Harrowing images released over the weekend showed bound corpses being shot at close range in the city, while Ukrainian forces also uncovered a mass grave full of bodies.

The Ukrainian delegation showed diplomats graphic footage from Bucha and other key areas of Ukraine where Russia is accused of war crimes.

There were children among the bodies captured in the footage.

Mr. Zelensky said the scenes from Bukha showed “not a single crime there that they (Russian forces) would not commit.”

“Today, as a result of Russia’s actions in our country, the most horrific war crimes we have seen since the end of World War II were committed in Ukraine,” he told delegates.

“Russian troops are deliberately destroying Ukrainian cities with artillery and air strikes, deliberately blockading cities and causing mass starvation.

“They deliberately shoot columns of civilians on the streets trying to escape hostilities.

“They even deliberately blow up shelters where civilians are hiding from air strikes. They deliberately create conditions in the temporarily occupied areas so that as many civilians as possible are killed there.”

The Ukrainian leader warned that more details of war crimes in other parts of the country could emerge.

Ukrainian authorities say they have restored control over the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions after Moscow promised to significantly reduce its military operations and focus on the Donbass region.

Russia has claimed without evidence that the photos in Bucha were staged by Ukraine.

The Kremlin has said it will provide the Security Council with “empirical evidence” that its forces were not behind the killings in the city, despite mounting evidence of atrocities committed by Russia.

But satellite images analyzed by The New York Times refuted Moscow’s claims that Russian troops were not involved in some of the atrocities.

The newspaper compared a photo of up to 11 bodies from March 11 – when the city was under Russian occupation – with images taken by a local resident on April 2.

This means the bodies may have been there for weeks.