More than 8,300 civilians killed in Ukraine war - investigators

More than 8,300 civilians have been killed so far in Russia's war against Ukraine, investigators in Kyiv said on Sunday.

Among them were 437 children, said Attorney General Andriy Kostin, according to a report by the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN on Sunday.

More than 11,000 people were injured in the war, which has lasted almost nine months.

According to Kostin, the actual number of victims is likely to be higher because Ukrainian authorities do not yet have access to some areas occupied by Russia.

In the liberated regions, Ukrainian troops continue to find bodies and evidence of suspected atrocities.

The Ukrainian authorities have so far registered more than 45,000 war crimes, with 216 people reported as suspected war criminals, including 17 Russian prisoners of war, it has been revealed. Twelve of the 60 accused were convicted.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhya has been rocked by several powerful explosions, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Sunday.

IAEA experts on the ground had reported dozens of impacts on and near the site of Europe's largest nuclear facility, the agency said in a statement.

The incidents on Saturday and Sunday "abruptly" ended a period of relative calm at the facility, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said according to the statement.

IAEA experts saw some of the explosions from their windows, the agency said.

The plant's management reported damage to some buildings, systems and equipment. So far, however, the damage had not affected nuclear safety and nobody was injured.

The Russian Defence Ministry accused the Ukrainian armed forces of massively shelling the nuclear power plant with artillery since Saturday.

On Sunday morning alone, 12 large-calibre shells were aimed at the plant, Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said, according to Russian news agencies.

Eight projectiles hit between the reactor blocks and one hit the roof of a building, he said. Radiation around the nuclear power plant was normal, Konashenkov added.

"Whoever is behind this, it must stop immediately," Grossi said in the IAEA statement. "As I have said many times before, you're playing with fire!"

The IAEA chief appealed once again to both sides to establish a safe zone around the facility where no attacks and fighting takes place. Intensive negotiations on this with both sides had not yet led to an agreement, he said.

Russia has effectively controlled Europe's largest nuclear power plant since the beginning of March, when Moscow's troops occupied large parts of southern Ukraine in the course of the war.

The nuclear plant has repeatedly come under fire in heavy fighting in recent months. Ukraine and Russia blame each other.

The second of two Polish victims killed in a missile strike this week in the country's border area with Ukraine was buried with a state funeral on Sunday.

A rocket hit the village of Przewodów on Tuesday, killing two people. A 59-year-old tractor driver, was given a state funeral on Sunday. On Saturday, a company of honour from the Polish army gave the last escort to a 60-year-old camp manager in Przewodów.

Currently, the West assumes that a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile used to defend against attacks by the Russian military hit Przewodów by mistake.

According to a reporter from the PAP news agency, investigators have now left the site of the impact. There were no more police officers to be seen at the entrance to the village. There was no official information on this.

Also on the site of the granary, which was hit by the rocket, no emergency services, investigators and experts were active on Sunday. According to the information, there is an impact crater 5 metres deep.