At Least 200 Feared Dead in Apartments Hit by Russia, Officials Say

BORODYANKA, Ukraine — Andreiy Ziuzko stood close to the flattened house advanced in Borodyanka that was as soon as his residence, his belongings in plastic baggage on the sidewalk beside just a few blackened cooking pots on Tuesday.

The constructing had lain in ruins for weeks, struck simply after combating had pushed him and his household to flee. It was solely after some time that he defined one thing even worse had occurred. His mom lived just a few doorways down, and her house had additionally been bombed.

“Mother’s residence was hit on the identical day,” Mr. Ziuzko mentioned. “I can’t discover her.”

Russian troops just lately withdrew from the realm round Borodyanka, a Ukrainian commuter city close to Kyiv, the capital, that was among the many first locations to be hit by Russian airstrikes after the invasion. Now, dozens of people that have been sheltering in basements or flats are lacking and presumed useless below the rubble, the appearing mayor mentioned Tuesday.

“We expect over 200 folks died,” mentioned Georgii Yerko, the appearing mayor of Borodyanka. “However it’s an assumption.”

On Tuesday, New York Occasions journalists reached the city for the primary time after Russian troops withdrew. The scars left behind have been surprising, with nice gashes sliced by multistory complexes alongside the principle road. 4 house buildings had collapsed within the bombing, residents mentioned, their flooring crushed all the way down to floor degree like concertinas. Heavy combating left extra destruction for 2 miles alongside the principle road.

Russia’s pullout from areas round Kyiv in latest days has unveiled proof of abuses which have galvanized the world’s consideration. In locations like Bucha, a closer-in suburb of the capital only a few miles from Borodyanka, the main target has been on proof that Ukrainian civilians have been killed by Russian forces, together with our bodies whose fingers had been certain and who had been shot at shut vary.

In Borodyanka, and different locations, the main target has been on proof that civilian buildings have been indiscriminately focused. The subject was central in discussions on the United Nations Safety Council on Tuesday.

Rosemary DiCarlo, the U.N. chief for political and peace-building affairs, advised the Safety Council that explosive weapons had induced dying and destruction in lots of populated areas, wrecking infrastructure that included residential buildings, hospitals, faculties, water stations and electrical energy programs.

The U.N. obtained credible allegations that Russia had used cluster munitions — banned weapons that spew small explosive mines throughout a large house — in populated areas at the very least 24 instances, Ms. DiCarlo mentioned. She added that there have been accusations that Ukrainian forces had additionally used cluster munitions.

“Indiscriminate assaults are prohibited below worldwide humanitarian legislation and will quantity to warfare crimes,” Ms. DiCarlo advised the council.

Borodyanka used to have about 13,000 residents, and the city — a easy, modest place, as one resident described it — was constructed alongside a freeway crossroads. That convergence was a promoting level for individuals who labored in Kyiv, only a brief drive away to the southeast, and for Russian troops in addition to their convoys that started piling into the nation’s north to attempt to seal off the capital within the final days of February.

Residents mentioned that the Russian forces started submitting by the city round Feb. 27, and that volunteers with the Ukrainian territorial protection forces then attacked one of many convoys. After that, Russian troopers began taking pictures at automobiles and buildings as they drove by city, mentioned Valerii Vishnyak, a resident. “It was simply lawlessness,” he mentioned.

Then, late on March 1, Russian jets got here screaming overhead. “We have been sitting within the cellar,” mentioned Tamara Vishnyak, Mr. Vishnyak’s mom. “The airplane flew very low. I counted three seconds and the bomb fell.” The bomb crashed by the constructing throughout the road.

Mr. Ziuzko, 43, mentioned that the one motive he and his household escaped the airstrikes was as a result of they’d fled their close by constructing when the combating set it on hearth.

He mentioned he didn’t know the place his mom, Svetlana Ziuzko, 66, had been on the time the bombs hit, whether or not in her house or within the bomb shelter. His voice catching, he mentioned he couldn’t bear in mind what day it was the final time he noticed her.

“The again of the constructing is gone; simply the balcony is there,” he mentioned, pointing to the sixth-floor balcony hanging above a vacuum.

Behind the constructing, two girls stood watch whereas their husbands climbed down into the basement subsequent to the destroyed part. Tanya Hachnikova, 36, mentioned her husband was looking for his mother and father, who lived within the house constructing. The second girl, Oksana Dikan, 43, was in search of a colleague who lived there and was additionally lacking.

They mentioned they thought as much as 20 folks had been dwelling within the constructing when it was hit, however the two males climbed again out saying they might not get by to the basement that lay below the rubble. “We’d like assist, and we want gear,” Ms. Dikan mentioned later by phone.

Many individuals fled the city to flee the combating that raged there for days, till a sustained Ukrainian counterattack led Russian troops to drag out final week. Mr. Yerko, the appearing mayor, mentioned that digging for our bodies must wait. The primary activity, he mentioned, was to reconnect the electrical energy and take away unexploded ordinance after which clear the rubble.

Yaroslav, an data know-how specialist who requested that solely his first identify be revealed to keep away from being recognized, was climbing on to a bench to look right into a gutted house he mentioned belonged to his mother and father. They’d left, with simply their paperwork and their cat, the day earlier than the bomb fell on the constructing, he mentioned. Virtually definitely there have been folks nonetheless dwelling of their flats and hiding within the shelter when the airstrike hit, he mentioned.

Requested if the Ukrainian navy had been utilizing the constructing, he mentioned no. “What military? My mother and father have been dwelling there.”

Ivor Prickett contributed reporting from Borodyanka, Ukraine, and Farnaz Fassihi from New York.