Bodies lie in potholed streets, clouds of smoke rise from the ruins of houses, fences are torn down: a new video offers a rare look inside a frontline city that has borne the brunt of the fighting as Russia continues its offensive in the north Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities reported that the city of Vovchansk, with a pre-war population of around 17,000, has been devastated since Moscow’s troops crossed the border and opened a new front in the Kharkiv region earlier this month. Located just five kilometers from the Russian border, the city has become the focal point of the offensive and has seen intense street fighting and shelling that, according to Kiev, has left Russian forces “bogged down”.
Most of its residents have fled or been evacuated to areas further away from the fighting, including Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
But images and reports have emerged in recent days that portray the impact caused to this border city by the Kremlin’s new attack.
Drone footage of Vovchansk posted to Instagram on Wednesday by Ukrainian freelance cameraman Kostya Liberov appears to show several bodies in civilian clothes lying in the city’s streets. The footage, shot from above, does not provide many details about the condition of the bodies or any visible injuries, but one frame appears to show the bodies of two people lying face down on the ground between a road and the ruins of residential homes. About 3 meters to the left is a small white crater and an impact zone where the grass appears to have been destroyed by an explosion.
A fuller version of Liberov’s video published by the Getty news agency also appears to show bodies in soldiers’ uniforms lying in the streets.
NBC News was unable to geolocate exactly where the bodies are in the Instagram video Liberov shared, but images of burning buildings in the video can be geolocated to downtown Vovchansk. Liberov told NBC News that the footage was filmed in an area of the city where street fighting had occurred. NBC News was unable to verify whether the people in the video were, in fact, civilians or how they died.
On May 16, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that had information about “first executions of civilians by the Russian military” in Vovchansk. One resident, Klymenko said, was killed after refusing to obey Russian commands and trying to escape on foot. The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Sinegubov, said this week that around 100 people remain in Vovchansk and that they have been effectively taken hostage by the Russians, who are not allowing them to evacuate. NBC News was unable to independently verify any of the officials’ claims.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine also released an affirmation Tuesday detailing a case it is investigating of two civilians allegedly shot in Vovchansk. He shared an image of an elderly woman wearing a bright red jacket who appears slumped in a wheelchair. A video of her 70-year-old husband was also released in which he said he, his wife and another resident were shot from a nearby building as they tried to escape the city towards Kharkiv on May 15. he was eventually helped by Ukrainian forces in the area and taken to Kharkiv, according to the statement. NBC News was unable to verify the details of what happened.
The Attorney General’s Office said the case was being investigated as a violation of the laws and customs of war.
There was no immediate official reaction from Russia to any of the Ukrainian claims about civilians in Vovchansk or to the bodies appearing in Liberov’s drone video over the city. NBC News has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
Meanwhile, active fighting continues in the city.
On Wednesday, at your night address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked several army brigades for defending the Vovchansk district and the Kharkiv region in general. Its main commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Thursday that “the enemy became completely bogged down in street battles for Vovchansk” after the first “small successes” in Russia’s new offensive. Also Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry he said was deflecting Ukrainian counterattacks in Vovchansk, and on Friday, Russian state news agency Tass quoted lawmaker Viktor Vodolatsky as saying that more than half of Volchansk was under Russian control.
With active fighting ongoing, NBC News was unable to verify battlefield reports from either side.
Bianca Britton It is Marina Scott contributed.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
