Thirteen Ukrainian shoppers queuing for bread were executed in cold-blood yesterday in the latest war crime committed by Russian troops.
Shocking claims by America accused the soldiers of shooting people as they queued for bread in the embattled northern city of Chernihiv.
It was originally reported that ten people had died but the death toll has since risen.
There are growing fears the faltering Russian advance, beset by shocking troop and equipment losses, has led to soldiers picking out innocent civilians.
Even before midday yesterday (Weds) three bombers were shot down as it emerged 13,800 Russian troops had died in just 21 days of fighting. Within hours a Russian helicopter was blown out of the sky.
US embassy officials tweeted: “Today, Russian forces shot dead and killed ten people standing in line for bread in Chernihiv.
“Such horrific attacks must stop. We are considering all available options to ensure accountability for any atrocity crimes in Ukraine.”
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It came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin was officially declared a war criminal by the US Senate as it called for an investigation into his despot regime.
On day 21 of Moscow’s barbaric invasion footage emerged of a group of Russians executing a civilian man who was was surrendering.
The March 7 film has only just emerged and shows a silver car driving on the E40 expressway west of Kyiv.
As he approaches Kyiv the driver sees a Russian tank and a group of soldiers. He gets out of the car with his hands up before they gun him down, executing him.
They then grab his dead body and drag him into trees nearby. A woman and a child also travelling in the car were taken captive.
Putin’s invasion force is losing almost a battalion of troops every two days as Ukraine puts up a ferocious defence of its cities.
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As well as huge troop losses Moscow has suffered 430 tanks blown up and yesterday the three bombers were blown out of the skies by midday - two above Odesa and one flying above Chernihiv.
The shooting down of three SU-25 bombers means Vladimir Putin’s military has now lost 87 warplanes to Ukraine’s devastating air defences.
As many as 1375 armoured vehicles have been blasted and 109 of Russia’s helicopters have been destroyed.
The Russian Ka-52 military helicopter was shot down near Mykolaiv yesterday.
Ukraine says Putin’s military has lost around 40% of its operational capability - based on a combination of the appalling troop toll and loss of war machinery.
But Russian commanders will reinforce numbers by releasing early cadets studying in higher military educational institutions to send them to the Ukraine frontline.
Overnight on Wednesday Kyiv special forces had counter-attacked against Russian troops, driving them back 15 miles west of the capital.
Plummeting morale among Russian troops has led to hundreds being captured or surrendering to Ukraine’s troops.
More than 1,000 have been captured.
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency intercepted phone calls from one of Moscow’s troops complaining he and his comrades has no more food, water, fuel or ammunition.
Putin’s bloody invasion has been battered by logistical problems - its armoured columns cut off from supply lines as Ukraine’s forces ambushed fuel and supply trucks.
A massive security clamp down and curfew throughout Kyiv has limited the ability of Russian spies and Spetsnaz commandos to trigger sabotage attacks.
One Russian agent was detained in Kyiv after being seized with pictures he had taken on his phone of critical infrastructure targets.
It is believed Kyiv officials had ordered the special operation to protect a vital supply route into the city from western Ukraine.
Kyiv regional leader, Oleksiy Kuleba, said Russian forces had intensified fighting in the suburbs and a highway leading west, and across the capital region, “kindergartens, museums, churches, residential blocks and engineering infrastructure are suffering from the endless firing”.
But despite Russia’s losses Ukraine is still reeling from horrific suffering of its civilians, who continue to be killed in cold blood by Putin’s military.
And the relentless shelling continued, with smoke rising from Kyiv from multiple artillery strikes leaving residential apartment blocks burning.
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky went before the US Congress via video and, invoking Pearl Harbour and 9/11, pleaded with America for more weapons and tougher sanctions against Russia, saying: “We need you right now.”
In the eastern Kharkiv alone as many as 500 have died, although that figure is likely to double and the horrific toll on children is rising.
Ukraine’s second city, just 20 miles from the Russian border, suffered over 50 artillery shells overnight until Wednesday morning.
By day 21 of Putin’s barbaric war Ukraine’s Prosecutor General said 103 children have now been killed with many more than 100 injured.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and the State Prosecutor’s office is working round the clock to collate details of alleged war crimes by Russian forces.
Air-raid sirens sounded throughout eastern and central cities, including Kyiv, which was again hit by a number of suspected cruise missiles.
A huge fire burned in Mariupol from near-constant Russian bombing - as America was understood to be preparing to transfer a new anti-aircraft missile system to Ukraine.
More than 20,000 civlians were able to flee Mariupol in the biggest evacuation yet from the besieged port.
They fled in 4,000 vehicles of which 570 have reached relative safety.
The Red Cross has helped evacuate civilians from besieged areas and has delivered 200 tonnes of aid, including medical supplies, blankets, water and more than 5,200 body bags.
Nowhere has suffered more than Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov. Local officials say missile strikes and shelling have killed more than 2,300 people.
Bodies have been buried in trenches, and more corpses lie in the streets and in a hospital basement.
With humanitarian aid unable to get in amid the constant bombardment, people burn scraps of furniture to warm their hands and cook the little food still available.
In Ivano Frankivsk in the west sirens blared in the early hours of Wednesday, although the city through which many frontline supplies are transported was not hit.
Since the beginning of the invasion, Russia has completely or partially destroyed 3,500 infrastructure facilities in Ukraine, said Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky.
Among them - 230 objects of transport infrastructure and 165 objects of life support of the population, such as electric substations and gas pipelines.
A staggering 72 educational institutions and 21 health care institutions were also destroyed.
Ukraine’s Health Ministry said 43 ambulance has been fired upon by Russian troops since the start of the invasion and 117 hospitals have been hit by shells - seven of them demolished.
