Russia faced a fresh wave of condemnation on Monday after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine.
Russia faced a fresh wave of condemnation on Monday after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine. S ome western leaders called for further sanctions in response, even as Moscow continued to press its offensive in the country’s east. European allies, though united in outrage, appeared split on how to respond. Poland, which is on Ukraine’s border and has taken in large numbers of refugees, angrily singled out France and Germany for not taking more strident action and urged Europe to quickly wean itself off Russian energy, while Berlin said it would take a longer-term approach. Ukrainian officials said the bodies of 410 civilians were found in towns around the capital, Kyiv, that were recaptured from Russian forces in recent days. In Bucha, northwest of the capital, Associated Press (AP) journalists saw 21 bodies, including a group of nine in civilian clothes who appeared to have been shot at close range. At least two had their hands tied behind their backs. In Motyzhyn, to the west of Kyiv, AP journalists saw the bodies of four people who appeared to have been shot at close range and thrown into a pit. Residents said the mayor, her son, and her husband — who had been bound and blindfolded — were among them. US President Joe Biden called for a war crimes trial against Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and said he will seek more sanctions after the reported atrocities. “You saw what happened in Bucha,” Mr Biden said, describing Mr Putin as a “war criminal”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made his first reported foray outside the capital since the war began, visiting Bucha on Monday to meet with residents. There, he denounced the killings as “genocide” and “war crimes”. Olena Kolesnik, who fled Kharkiv for Poland, echoed his assessment. “This is genocide. This is fascism. This is the extermination of people – innocent people, children, women, and the elderly,” she said, while also describing her hometown in Ukraine’s north as being in a state of ruin after weeks of shelling. The images of battered corpses lying in the streets or hastily dug graves unleashed a wave of outrage that could signal a turning point in the nearly six-week-old war. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet on Monday she had spoken to Mr Zelensky. She said the European Union “is ready” to send investigators to Ukraine to help the local prosecutor general “document war crimes”. Sanctions have thus far failed to halt the offensive, and rising energy prices along with tight controls on the Russian currency market have blunted their impact, with the rouble rebounding strongly after initially crashing. Western and Ukrainian leaders have accused Russia of war crimes before, and the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor has opened a probe to investigate the conflict.
