KYIV, UKRAINE -- Family members are waiting anxiously for news of their loved ones after a number of civilian targets were hit by Russian forces in the village of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv.

Reporting outside of a large residential building Monday that had been previously bombed by Russian forces, CTV National News London Bureau Correspondent Daniele Hamamdjian said many other structures in the town of 12,000 were also hit.

Some are now waiting to hear if any residents made it out alive.

"They have been waiting for days for workers to locate and find the bodies of loved ones that were waiting in the basement, that's now been turned into a graveyard," she said.

An older couple said they last spoke to their son over the phone on April 1, getting as far as "hello" before the line was cut. They have been trying to reach him since.

One woman told CTV National News that she hid her daughter in the sofa of a basement out of fear she would be raped by the forces that came into town.

Other cities and towns in Ukraine are estimating high casualty rates as a result of the war, which Russian President Vladimir Putin launched on Feb. 24.

The mayor of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol says more than 10,000 civilians have died in the Russian siege of his city, with the death toll possibly surpassing 20,000.

The mayor had previously claimed 5,000 people died.

Speaking in a video address to the South Korean parliament on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked for any military aid the country could provide as he said Russia could make peace through force.

Ukrainian authorities also have accused Russian forces of committing atrocities, including a massacre in the town of Bucha, outside Kyiv.

Ukraine will be investigating 5,600 alleged war crimes by Russians, with the help of international investigators, some of who arrived from France on Monday.

Several world leaders, including Canada and the United States, have promised support to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its investigation of war crimes in Ukraine.

On March 28, Canada’s Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino announced that RCMP officers would be dispatched to support the ICC’s efforts. The Canadian team will assist in collecting and preserving evidence, and interviewing witnesses. 

Watch the full video with CTV National News London Bureau Correspondent Daniele Hamamdjian at the top of the article.