Russian military denies killing civilians in Bucha, Ukraine

MOSCOW — Russia's defense ministry said Sunday its forces did not kill civilians in Bucha, a town outside Ukraine's capital Kyiv recently retaken by Ukrainian soldiers from Moscow's troops.

"During the time this settlement was under the control of Russian armed forces, not a single local resident suffered from any violent actions," the ministry said in a statement, saying Russia's military delivered 452 tonnes of humanitarian aid to civilians there.

The ministry said all residents "had the opportunity to freely leave the settlement in the northern direction," while the southern suburbs of the city "were fired at around the clock by Ukrainian troops."

Photo and video of corpses strewn across the streets of Bucha were "another production of the Kyiv regime for the Western media," it claimed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called the killings "genocide," amid the discovery of mass graves in the town.

The ministry said that all Russian units withdrew from Bucha on March 30, a day after Russia's military announced it would be significantly reducing activity in northern Ukraine. — Agence France-Presse