Russia found over 3,000 killed civilians in Mariupol after taking control over the city

The Russian Investigative Committee has reported that over 3,000 civilians were killed in Mariupol after Russian forces entered the city, as per a report by Sputnik news. The committee claims that Ukrainian military forces "artificially created obstacles for evacuation" of citizens, leaving them unable to leave the city and vulnerable to attack by Ukrainian forces. "Unable to leave the city and moving in search of food, civilians became a living target for Ukrainian punishers who killed them with various types of weapons," said the Russian Investigative Committee.

The Russian Investigative Committee reported that 51 bodies of civilians were discovered in April at positions abandoned by Ukraine's troops, and after completing the examination of the city, the number of casualties rose to more than 3,000. The Russian investigators have proposed the creation of a DNA database to help identify the victims, as many have yet to be identified. In addition, the Russian Investigative Committee has initiated a criminal case against several Ukrainian military leaders, including Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, and Gen. Oleksandr Pavlyuk, the commander of the operations of Ukraine's joint forces.

Both sides have been accused of human rights abuses 

These individuals are accused of war crimes in Mariupol, including the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare. The allegations made by the Russian Investigative Committee have not been independently verified. It is also important to note that the conflict in Mariupol has been marked by a complex and volatile situation, with both Ukrainian and Russian forces accused of committing human rights abuses. 

Meanwhile, Kyiv is investigating more than 58,000 potential Russian war crimes — killings, kidnappings, indiscriminate bombings and sexual assaults.

Reporting by The Associated Press and “Frontline,” recorded in a public database, has independently verified more than 600 incidents that appear to violate the laws of war. Some of those attacks were massacres that killed dozens or hundreds of civilians and as a totality it could account for thousands of individual war crimes.