Amnesty International says it has found evidence of war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine

Amnesty International announced Friday that it has evidence of alleged war crimes committed earlier this year by Russian forces in the Kyiv region during the invasion of Ukraine.

Investigators from the human rights group have been documenting alleged war crimes in eight cities around the Ukrainian capital since the end of February.

The names of some places may already be familiar, including Bucha and Borodyanka, where Ukrainian authorities and the international media shocked the world with the images of bound and slaughtered civilians and mass graves.

What Amnesty has done is interview survivors and collected evidence, said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary general.

"In other words, we know that the crimes committed against people living around here are not merely anecdotal," she told a news conference in Kyiv following the release of the investigation report. "We know they are part of a pattern that has characterized Russia's conduct of the hostilities from the outset."

As part of the forensics, the human rights group says it has matched specific spent ammunition with specific elite Russian military units that are accused of carrying out the atrocities. 

Amnesty says it has documented unlawful airstrikes on Borodyanka that killed as many as 40 people.

The attacks were disproportionate and indiscriminate, devastated an entire neighbourhood and left thousands of people homeless, the report concluded.

In Bucha and several other towns and villages located northwest of Kyiv, Amnesty International documented 22 cases of unlawful killings by Russian forces, most of which were apparent extrajudicial executions.

WATCH | Building a case for war crimes in Bucha:

"It is vital that all those responsible, including up the chain of command, are brought to justice," said Callamard.

Amnesty investigators interviewed 45 people who witnessed — or had first-hand knowledge of — unlawful killings of their relatives and neighbours by Russian soldiers, and 39 others who witnessed or had first-hand knowledge of the airstrikes that targeted eight residential buildings.

Amnesty also acknowledged it had looked at allegations by Russian authorities that Russian prisoners of war were mistreated by the Ukrainians.

Specifically, it examined a video that circulated online and established that it is authentic.