Kyiv: Russia faced mounting accusations of war crimes in Ukraine including forcing thousands of people into interrogation camps, as the number of refugees reported to have fled the conflict surpassed six million.

       Throughout the 11-week conflict, Russian forces have been accused of committing atrocities – including the killing of unarmed civilians, torture and rape.

       CNN and the BBC on Thursday released what they said was security camera footage showing Russian soldiers with assault rifles shooting two Ukrainian civilians in the back.

       The two men appeared unarmed – the footage showed the soldiers frisking them before allowing them to walk away at a business premises on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv.

       One man died on the spot, the other shortly after, according to the outlets.

       The killings took place on March 16 and are being investigated as a war crime, CNN said.

       The UN Human Rights Council voted 33-2 on Thursday to investigate alleged atrocities by Russian troops in Ukraine.

       Ukrainian prosecutors say they have received reports of more than 10,000 alleged crimes.

       The UN refugee agency said on Thursday more than six million people had fled Ukraine, more than half of them going to neighbouring Poland.

       Women and children make up 90% of the refugees, UNHCR said.

       The United States on Thursday accused Russia of forcibly taking onto territory under its control tens of thousands of Ukrainians, often singled out for their resistance to the invasion.

       The remarks support allegations by the Ukrainian government which estimates nearly 1.2 million people have been deported into Russia or Russian-controlled territory and has denounced so-called “filtration camps” in which Moscow interrogates detained people.

       Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said that witness testimony attests to “brutal interrogations” in the camps.

       “Accounts of this brutality and forced displacement are happening right now, as we speak, and these actions amount to war crimes,” Carpenter said.

       “We must not allow this evil to stand,” he said.

       “The United States assesses that Russia’s forces have relocated at least several thousand Ukrainians for processing in these ‘filtration camps,’ and evacuated at least tens of thousands more to Russia or Russia-controlled territory, sometimes without telling evacuees of their final destination,” he said.

       Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Russian forces had destroyed 570 healthcare facilities.

       “What for? It’s nonsense. It’s barbarity,” he said. — Agencies