Russian occupiers killed dogs in Borodianka shelter,

Hundreds of dogs have been found dead at an animal shelter in Ukraine after Russian occupiers left them to starve in their cages for weeks.

The UAnimals shelter in Borodyanka, just north of Kyiv, said that up to 485 dogs were locked in their cages by Russian forces shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.

There they remained without food or water for about a month as the occupiers left them to die, until staff were able to return to the compound on April 1 once the Russian soldiers had retreated.

Footage released by the animal shelter on Instagram showed workers stacking up a huge pile of dead hounds which had wasted away in the presence of the occupiers.

Meanwhile, images of half mangled corpses in some of the cages suggested some dogs had begun to eat their dead cell mates in the complete absence of food.

'This is the number of dogs... and this is not all, this is just a part,' a woman can be heard saying through tears as she filmed workers adding to the stack of corpses.

'These are the animals of Borodyanka, and the consequences of war. The consequences of complete indifference and negligence. The animals went three to four weeks without food or water.'

Just 150 of the 485 dogs were found alive when the workers returned, with 27 of them transferred to local vets in critical condition.

UAnimals has since announced on social media it will pay 50,000 hryvnia (almost £1300) to anyone willing to rescue some of the animals still left alive, and hit out at the director of the Kyiv veterinary hospital - the owners of the shelter - for not organising proper care or evacuation for the dogs.

One video, posted by lawyer and head of Ukrainian nonprofit Centre for Civil Liberties Oleksandra Matviichuk, showed dozens of carcasses littering the floor at the UAnimals shelter.

'I have no words. Russians even killed dozens of dogs in Kyiv region. WHY??' she tweeted.

Meanwhile, more footage posted by Ukrainian Interior Ministry advisor Anton Gerashchenko showed some of live dogs barking in terror as staff members slowly entered their cages and observed the dead bodies for the first time.

Some of the carcasses had remained untouched, but others had been torn apart by the ravenous dogs still trying to survive.