Russia’s despicable acts in Ukraine, carried out against defenceless women and children, are at the forefront of investigations that could see President Vladimir Putin face the music in an international court.

In Bucha, 25km west of Kyiv, the charred bodies of civilians are being exhumed from mass graves and pored over for evidence to be used against the 69-year-old leader who plunged Europe into its most significant conflict in a generation.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court, which deals with human rights abuses, has investigators in Ukraine right now. Those investigators have declared the country a “crime scene” – two words that should send shivers down Mr Putin’s spine.

“Ukraine is a crime scene,” said ICC prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan as he inspected the grim scenes with war reporters from around the world.

“We’re here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC are being committed. We have to pierce the fog of war to get to the truth.”

The Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Iryna Venediktova, wrote that experts on the ground include “forensics, ballistics, DNA and fingerprint experts as well as crime scene inspectors, explosives technicians, and investigators’ assistants”.

In Bucha, where hundreds of civilians have been massacred by Russian forces, bodies in black bags lay side by side.

North of Bucha, in Hostomel, locals exhumed the body of Mayor Yuriy Prylypko, whom authorities said was shot while “handing out bread to the hungry and medicine to the sick”.

Up to 400 people are unaccounted for in the town, said regional prosecutor Andiy Tkach.

Locals who survived the slaughter of friends and family members are telling stories of rape, torture and children being used as human shields.

While the ICC suggests Putin could face charges over alleged war crimes, another word is being uttered internationally – “genocide”.

US President Joe Biden made the claim as Russia comes under increasing scrutiny over atrocities discovered in towns since abandoned by its forces.

Bucha, where more than 400 people were found dead after Moscow’s forces withdrew, is at the centre of the world’s focus.

Another region, the southern port city of Mariupol, is home to equally-confronting scenes. And things could soon get much, much worse.

In a desperate attempt to flee what Ukrainian authorities warn will be a bloody new clash in the east, more than 40,000 people have left the country in the past 24 hours, the United Nations said, bringing those displaced abroad to 4.6 million since the conflict began.

Humanitarian corridors established to usher civilians to safety have been forced to shut down because they are deemed “too dangerous” for evacuations.

The fear about violence increasing comes as US private satellite firm Maxar Technologies published images showing Russian ground forces moving towards the border with Ukraine.

But even as the military focus shifted eastward, the grim work of accounting for the civilian dead continued in areas recently abandoned by Russia’s army.

News wire service AFP says its reporters witnessed dozens of body bags filling a refrigerated lorry trailer, as two others awaited more corpses.

“Our citizens are murdered and we must bury every person in the right way,” said Igor Karpishen, loading the truck.

“I don’t have any words to express these feelings.”

The United Nations has asked for a ceasefire as it awaits a Russian response to concrete proposals for evacuating civilians and delivering aid.

“That was our appeal for humanitarian reasons but it doesn’t seem possible,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a news conference.

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