Ukraine-Russia conflict: Borodyanka destruction 'more horrific' than Bucha, says Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that conditions in Borodyanka were worse than in Bucha, where Russia has been accused of killing civilians.

Referring to the situation as"significantly more dreadful", he added that the city has a considerably higher number of victims targetted by"Russian occupiers"than Bucha.

"The work to clear the rubble in Borodyanka has begun ... It's significantly more dreadful there. Even more victims from the Russian occupiers," saidZelensky in a video that waspostedon Telegram.

Borodyanka is located about 25 km from Bucha.

He offered no further details or evidence that Russia was responsible for the deaths of civilians in the city.

The alleged killing of civilians in the city of Bucha has been largely condemned by the West as war crimes with countries lobbying for tougher sanctions against Russia.

Multiple countries have also come together and expelled Moscow's diplomats, accusing them of spying.

According to local authorities, more than 300 people were killed by Russian forces in Bucha, 35 kilometres northwest of the capital Kyiv, and at least50 of themwere executed.

However,Moscow has denied that its forces have committed any atrocities against civilians. The country says that the gruesomeimages of bodies in Bucha were staged by the Ukraine government so as to derail peace negotiations and justify additional sanctions against Moscow.

Zelensky has also alleged similar "war crimes" in the city of Mariupol.

Reuters quotes him as asking"and what will happen when the world learns the whole truth about what the Russian military did in Mariupol?"

"There, on almost every street, is what the world saw in Bucha and other towns in the Kyiv region after the withdrawal of Russian troops."

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Since the beginning of this attack,Moscow has claimed that one of its aims is to "liberate" the largely Russian-speaking places like Mariupol from a threat of genocide by Ukrainian nationalists, who it accuses of using civilians as human shields.

The Ukrainian PresidentZelensky has rejected theseclaims, labelling them as a baseless pretext for Russia's invasion.

(With inputs from agencies)