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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russian forces of committing “genocide” near the capital, Kyiv. Russia denied the allegations.
What are believed to be the bodies of civilians were found when reporters from Reuters and other journalists entered the town of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, after Russian forces withdrew.
“This is genocide,” Zelenskyy said on CBS’ “Face The Nation.” “The elimination of the whole nation and the people. We are the citizens of Ukraine. We have more than 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “This is genocide.” Adding that Ukraine is being “destroyed and exterminated” by Russian forces.
— Poli Alert ⚖️ (@polialertcom) April 3, 2022
“We are the citizens of Ukraine, and we don’t want to be subdued to the policy of Russian Federation,” he added. “This is the reason we are being destroyed and exterminated, and this is happening in the Europe of the 21st century. So this is the torture of the whole nation.”
Bucha’s mayor told Reuters on Saturday that more than 300 town residents had been killed. The mayor said corpses of executed people still line a street, with their hands tied behind their backs, and shot in the back of their heads.
Associated Press journalists saw the “bodies of at least nine people in civilian clothes who appeared to have been killed at close range,” as well as “two bodies wrapped in plastic, bound with tape and thrown into a ditch.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the images as a “punch to the gut.”
“We have come out and said that we believe that Russian forces have committed war crimes,” Blinken said Sunday on CNN’s “State of Union.”
“We can’t become numb to this. We can’t normalize this,” Blinken said. “This is the reality of what’s going on every single day as long as Russia’s brutality against Ukraine continues.”
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss echoed Blinken.
“Their indiscriminate attacks against innocent civilians during Russia’s illegal and unjustified invasion of Ukraine must be investigated as war crimes,” Truss said.
The United Nations said that the discovery of mass graves in Bucha raised serious questions about possible war crimes, and stressed the importance of preserving evidence.
“What is known to date clearly raises serious and disturbing questions about possible war crimes and grave violations of international humanitarian law,” the UN rights office said.
The UN has said more than 1,300 people, including 64 children, have been killed and 2,017 injured in the country. It believes that the actual figures are “considerably higher”.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, called for an urgent investigation of the latest alleged atrocities.
“Appalled by reports of unspeakable horrors in areas from which Russia is withdrawing,” she tweeted. “Perpetrators of war crimes will be held accountable.”
Appalled by reports of unspeakable horrors in areas from which Russia is withdrawing.
An independent investigation is urgently needed.
Perpetrators of war crimes will be held accountable.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) April 3, 2022
