Bipartisan US House delegation visits sites of suspected Russian war crimes in Kyiv

A bipartisan delegation of U.S. congress members toured sites of suspected Russian war crimes in the suburbs of Kyiv on Saturday.

Their visit came hours after the Russian military struck Odesa port after signing an agreement many hoped would bring a de-escalation at the Black Sea.

Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith joined four other congress members in the towns of Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, where Russian forces were accused of torturing and murdering civilians during the first month of the war.

Speaking to the Associated Press from Hostomel, Smith condemned a Russian missile strike on Saturday which damaged infrastructure at the port of Odesa only hours after Moscow and Kyiv signed deals to allow grain exports to resume from there in order to ward off global food shortages.

"What Russia is doing here is jeopardising peace, food security and economic security globally."

The congress members, including Michael Waltz of Florida, Mike Quigley of Illinois, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, visited the site of a former mass grave in Bucha, where more than 150 Ukrainian civilians were buried in trenches during Russian occupation in March.

The U.S. announced Friday that it would send some $270 million in additional weapons aid to Ukraine, including medium range rocket systems and tactical drones.

Smith said the deliveries would occur in "days, not weeks."