{O/C} It was a day of horror in Ukraine after Russian forces retreated, leaving a scorched earth behind as yet another missile attack killed around 40 in eastern Ukraine.
While there's a fighting chance that Western assistance will successfully halt Moscow's forthcoming offensive, Ukrainian officials are expecting more grisly discoveries as residents lined up to receive daily necessities amid this reprieve.
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This was the aftermath in Chernihiv, a gutted northern city living on borrowed time.
Dozens lined up to grab bread, diapers and much-needed medicine from vans parked outside an obliterated school, where residents are getting what humanitarian organisations can divvy out.
Near Kiev, the mayor of Bucha said investigators were grappling with the shooting deaths at three sites.
320 civilians were found dead as of Wednesday, and more bodies are expected to be found. Most victims were discovered to have died of gunshot wounds instead of rocket shrapnel.
This, as missiles pounded a packed train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk. So far, 39 perished and 87 were wounded. The injured are inundating area hospitals.
Despite the blood-curdling scenes, Ukrainian President Zelensky reiterated the horrors in Bucha may just be the beginning, warning of more casualties in Borodianka, a city northwest of Bucha.
The same sorry sight could be seen in the strategic port city of Mariupol.
At a NATO meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned that the country is still suspectible to further destruction. As such, he pleaded for weapons from NATO to completely snuff out the war.
This, spurred by recent reports that Russian forces committed whatever atrocities they could in areas surrounding Kiev.
Kuleba urged Western countries to continue bearing down on Russia until the bitter end.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as well as EU Foreign Affairs Chief Josep Borrell are headed to Kiev now to show solidarity with Ukraine and meet with its leader.
Meantime, the 193-member U.N. General Assembly voted 93-24 with 58 abstentions to suspend Russia from its human rights body. This, after Russia repeatedly led the world up the garden path over halting the offensive, as well as engaged in flagrant human rights violations.
{Soundbite} LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.: We have collectively sent a strong message that the suffering of victims and survivors will not be ignored.
Allegations Russia adamantly denies.
The vote will have a direct impact on Moscow's voice there.
The U.N.'s humanitarian chief, meanwhile, said a ceasefire was so far unlikely given the lack of trust between the two sides.
While more than 12 million remain marooned in Ukraine, the war has let the genie out of the bottle because more than 4 million have fled Ukraine in the thick of the war, triggering the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War.
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