Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday they were investigating possible crimes by Russian forces after finding hundreds of bodies strewn around towns outside the capital Kyiv after the Russian withdrawal from the area.

Taras Shapravskyi, deputy mayor of Bucha, a town around 40km northwest of Kyiv city, said 50 of some 300 bodies found after the Kremlin's forces withdrew late last week were the victims of extra-judicial killings by the Russians.

Reuters reporters saw one man sprawled by the roadside, his hands tied behind his back and a bullet wound to his head.

Moscow said killings had been "staged" to sully Russia's name.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call on Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the facts and chronology of the events in Bucha did not support Ukraine's version of events and urged international leaders not to rush to judgment.

Peskov said Russia's diplomats would press on with their efforts to convene a UN Security Council meeting to discuss what Moscow has called "Ukrainian provocations" in Bucha despite their first effort to arrange such a meeting being blocked.

Peskov declined to comment on whether the furore over Bucha would affect peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv, which had been set to resume via video conference on Monday.

Australian Associated Press