A Ukrainian MP has shared photographs of deadly booby traps left behind by Russian soldiers as she warned civilians that their homes are not safe.
Lesia Vasylenko shared images of grenades attached to a washing machine and others rigged up to trees.
She said they showed why it was not yet advisable to return to areas Russian soldiers had left, warning that even the woods were not safe.
Vasylenko, an MP for the liberal Holos party, said the emergency services were “working hard” to allow residents to return.
Vladimir Putin’s forces have also planted explosives in car trunks and hidden grenades under dead bodies in Kyiv and Mariupol, according to Ukrainian authorities. Deadly mines have also been planted across the country.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said earlier this month: “While retreating Russia’s military personnel is massively setting up booby-traps, banned by the international law, even on food facilities, private housing and human corpses.”
A man was killed outside Kyiv after opening the trunk of an abandoned car laced with explosives, according to the New York Times. Oleg Naumenko died on April 4, days after Russian troops withdrew from the capital.
It comes as missile strikes have hit Ukraine’s key western city of Lviv which is around 40 miles from the Polish border.
At least six people have been killed in strikes on military facilities and a car tyre service point, according to Lviv’s regional governor.
Meanwhile, the besieged eastern city of Mariupol is holding out despite fierce fighting and a devastating human toll.
Mariupol has refused Russia’s demand to surrender, with Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal vowing to fight to the end.
In an interview with the US network ABC, Shmyhal said a Russian deadline for Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to surrender by Sunday had been ignored.
“The city still has not fallen,” he said. “There is still our military forces, our soldiers, so they will fight until the end. And as for now, they still are in Mariupol.”
In an official update on Monday morning, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said Mariupol’s population had suffered “significant casualties”.
“Russian commanders will be concerned by the time it is taking to subdue Mariupol,” the statement said.
“Concerted Ukrainian resistance has severely tested Russian forces and diverted men and materiel, slowing Russia’s advance elsewhere.
“The effort to capture Mariupol has come at significant cost to its residents.
“Large areas of infrastructure have been destroyed whilst the population has suffered significant casualties.
“The targeting of populated areas within Mariupol aligns with Russia’s approach to Chechnya in 1999 and Syria in 2016.
“This is despite the 24 February 2022 claims of Russia’s Defence Ministry that Russia would neither strike cities nor threaten the Ukrainian population.”