Ukraine says 1,200 bodies found near Kyiv as east braces for onslaught

Ukraine said Sunday it had found more than 1,200 bodies in the Kyiv region, the scene of atrocities allegedly committed during the Russian occupation last month, as residents in the country's east braced -- or fled -- ahead of an expected massive offensive.

Heavy bombardments hammered Ukraine through the weekend, adding to mounting casualties six weeks into Russia's invasion of its neighbour.

Shelling claimed two lives in northeast Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, on Sunday morning, regional governor Oleg Sinegoubov said, the day after 10 civilians, including a child, died in bombing southeast of the city, according to authorities.

"The Russian army continues to wage war on civilians due to a lack of victories at the front," Sinegoubov said on Telegram.

In Dnipro, a large industrial city of a million inhabitants, a rain of Russian missiles nearly destroyed the local airport, causing an uncertain number of casualties, local authorities said. It had already been struck on March 15. 

President Volodymyr Zelensky again condemned atrocities against civilians, and after speaking with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said they had agreed "that all perpetrators of war crimes must be identified and punished".

Ukraine's prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova said the country was examining the alleged culpability of 500 leading Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, for thousands of war crimes. 

And White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan pledged the US would "work with the international community to make sure there's accountability" for what he called "mass atrocities". 

At the Vatican, Pope Francis called for an Easter ceasefire to pave the way for peace, denouncing a war where "defenceless civilians" suffered "heinous massacres and atrocious cruelty".

The death toll rose as well in the east of Ukraine, where a missile strike on Friday killed 57 people at a railway station in the city of Kramatorsk, according to a revised tally issued by Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donetsk region. 

Residents in the east have been fleeing in their thousands as Ukraine prepares for "important battles" against Moscow's forces, Zelensky said.

The war is taking a heavy toll on the region's economy as well. The World Bank on Sunday issued a dire forecast, saying Ukraine's economy would collapse by 45.1 percent this year -- a much bleaker outlook than it predicted even a month ago -- while Russia would see an 11.2 percent decline in GDP.