At least 300 lifeless bodies were found in the city of Butja near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, according to Zelensky - some with their hands tied behind their backs, others buried in mass graves.
- This is genocide, and it will be considered genocide by the rest of the world, Zelensky stated when he met the press during a visit to the city on Monday.
At the same time, he warned that the atrocities in Butja are probably not the last, nor the worst, we will witness in war-torn Ukraine.
Among other cities, he pointed out Borodjanka - a neighboring town to Butja in northwestern Ukraine.
Signs of torture
According to CNN, which visited the city, dead civilians are lying on the streets and signs of torture can be seen on their bodies.
A picture shows a man lying lifeless with his hands tied behind his back, a bag over his head and his trousers pulled down.
He has large bruises on his legs and a gunshot wound to the head.
Next to the body is an empty sleeve.
"He was executed, shot in the head," a Ukrainian police official told CNN.
The man did not have a personal identity card, but according to local authorities, most indications are that he was a civilian.
"We believe over 200 people have died"
Borodjanka was occupied by Russian troops on February 28, but was withdrawn by Ukrainian troops on April 1 after the Russian military withdrew.
The city, adjacent to a strategically important road to Kyiv, was one of the first cities to be bombed by Russian airstrikes.
Pictures from the city, published by CNN and The New York Times, among others, testify to apartment buildings collapsing and large cracks forming in buildings along the city's main street.
"We believe that more than 200 people have died, but that is an assumption," Georgii Yerko, Borodjanka's acting mayor, told The New York Times.
Authorities in Kyiv have also accused Russian troops of killing and torturing a family in the village of Motyzhyn, west of Kyiv, according to the BBC.
The channel also reports that at least three dead and tortured bodies were found in the town of Konotop in the Sumy region.
Russia denies killing civilians, saying the lifeless bodies were staged by Ukraine.
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"That's why you are here and witness this truth" - SVT's team on site in Butja interviews Volodymyr Zelenskyj.
Photo: Emil Larsson / SVT