The United States and European countries pledged on Monday to punish Moscow over civilian killings in northern Ukraine, where a mass grave and tied bodies of people shot at close range were found in a town seized back from Russian forces.
The deaths in Bucha, outside Kyiv, drew pledges of further sanctions against Moscow from the West, possibly including some restrictions on the billions of dollars in energy that Europe still imports from Russia.
The discoveries came against a backdrop of artillery barrages in Ukraine’s south and east, where Russia says it is now focusing after it fell short in attempts to take major cities in the heart of the country.
In a visit to Bucha, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said “these are war crimes and will be recognised by the world as genocide.”
Russia denied any accusations related to the murder of civilians, including in Bucha. Its envoy to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, said Russia will present “empirical evidence” to the Security Council on Tuesday showing its forces were not involved in atrocities.
Zelenskiy said the killings had made it harder for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia. Neither side offered updates on peace talks that had been set to resume on Monday.
Taras Shapravskyi, Bucha’s deputy mayor, said around 50 victims of extra-judicial killings by Russian troops had been found there after Kremlin forces withdrew late last week.
Reuters saw one man sprawled by the roadside, his hands bound behind his back and a bullet wound to his head. Hands and feet poked through red clay at a mass grave by a church where satellite images showed a 45-foot-long trench.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the evidence of civilian killings was just the “tip of the iceberg”, with Ukrainian forces yet to reach all areas vacated by Russian troops, and showed the need for tougher sanctions on Moscow.
US President Joe Biden called for a war crimes trial against Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, calling him “brutal”.
Ukrainian authorities said they had found 421 civilian casualties near Kyiv by Sunday and were investigating possible war crimes in Bucha, a description also used by French President Emmanuel Macron and, in reference to Russia’s broader offensive, by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Reuters saw more makeshift burials elsewhere but could not independently verify the number of dead or who was responsible.
In the village of Motyzhyn, west of Kyiv, Reuters reporters saw three bodies in a forest grave. An adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry said the victims were the village’s leader, Olha Sukhenko, and her husband and son.
Ihor, a local resident who said he was a relative of the family and did not give his surname, told Reuters: “I don’t know what they were killed for. They were peaceful, kind people.”
Zelenskiy has used the term genocide at various times during the war, decrying what he calls an intent to eliminate the nation by Putin, who has questioned Ukraine’s legitimate, independent history from Russia.
Washington, at Kyiv’s request, was backing a multinational team of prosecutors who would help collect and analyse evidence of atrocities with a view towards pursuing accountability, the US State Department said.
Russia rejects allegations of war crimes in what it calls a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarising and “denazifying” Ukraine. Ukraine says it was invaded without provocation.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Putin and his supporters would “feel the consequences” of events in Bucha and that Western allies would agree further sanctions against Moscow in the coming days. The Biden administration said new US sanctions would be announced this week.
German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said the European Union must discuss banning Russian gas, though other officials urged caution around measures that could touch off a European energy crisis.—Reuters
