Corpses of civilians found lying on the street in Ukraine 1:56
(CNN) -
Vladimir stands at the edge of a mass grave in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, outside Kyiv.
He takes his head in his hands and then raises them to the sky.
"Brother, we've been looking for you for so long," he says, breaking down in tears.
His brother, Dmitry, has been missing for about a week and neighbors told Vladimir that he might be buried here.
"We thought you were alive," Vladimir yells.
Corpses of 'executed people' left lying in the streets of Bucha as Ukraine accuses Russia of war crimes
Inside the tomb, the bodies are stacked on top of each other, mostly inside black bags, but some with exposed limbs.
Only some are buried.
A CNN crew saw at least a dozen bodies in the mass grave, but the ground shows signs of recent movement, suggesting there could be many more below.
Kyiv regional police and local residents say they believe at least 150 people were buried in the mass grave, but Bucha's mayor says the death toll could be as high as 300. CNN was unable to independently verify his claims.
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Vladimir recovers, comforted by his wife, Anna, and a neighbor, Liubov, and then leaves.
He claims to believe his brother is entombed there, but the sad reality is that he can't be sure, and he may not know for long.
Vladimir is comforted by his wife, Anna, near the mass grave in Bucha.
Residents say the grave, on the grounds behind the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho of All Saints, began excavation early in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, such was the death toll in this leafy Kyiv suburb.
Maxar satellite images from March 10 show that the trench was already being dug.
As Russian forces withdraw from the area around Kyiv, the horrors of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine are increasingly coming to light.
The death and destruction wrought by Russia's war machine is on full display in Bucha, where corpses have been seen littering the streets of the suburb since Sunday.
Some had their hands tied behind their backs.
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russia for the deaths within the district, accusing Moscow of trying to wipe out his "entire nation".
"This is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities," he said in an interview on CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
For its part, Russia has denied any involvement, insisting it does not target civilians and saying images of bodies on the streets of Bucha are false.
Within the district, roads are littered with destroyed Russian armored vehicles, including tanks, ambushed by Ukrainian drones or units with NATO-provided man-portable rocket launchers such as Javelins and next-generation light anti-tank weapon systems, or NLAWs.
In some cases, entire columns of Russian armored vehicles were trapped in narrow residential streets, before being destroyed.
A column of Russian armored vehicles litters a road in Bucha.
“They thought that they could just drive through the streets and pass by. That they would be greeted as if it was okay to come here,” Valery Spichek, an officer in the Ukrainian National Police, tells us.
"Maybe they think it's normal to drive around looting, destroying buildings and making fun of people."
"But our people did not allow it," he adds.
Vehicles are now rusting where they were stopped, evidence of the heavy losses Moscow suffered before being pushed out of the outskirts of Kyiv.
Many multi-storey buildings were destroyed in the city of Bordyanka, north-west of Kyiv.
The destruction extends to most of the surrounding buildings and other infrastructure, with very few houses intact, most of them uninhabitable following Russia's offensive in the capital.
The scene in Bucha is similar to what CNN was able to see in other districts around Kyiv, including Irwin, Myla, Hostomel and as far north as Bordyanka.
In the latter, entire multi-story buildings were flattened by artillery shells, as Ukrainians and Russians fought for control of the area.
Authorities say they fear there are bodies under the rubble, and the true death toll is still impossible to measure.
Russian invasion of Ukraine Vladimir Putin
