Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Photo: RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty
Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyymade a rare trip outside the capital city of Kyiv on Monday, venturing to one of the most devastated parts of the country — the suburb of Bucha, where Russians were recently accused of killing some 300 civilians (and, in some cases, torturing civilians) during their occupation.
Russian forces — who have denied committing such atrocities,insisting they were faked— withdrew from Bucha, which sits northwest of Kyiv, over the weekend, reportedly leaving behind a wake of destruction and horror stories from area residents.
One coroner who lives in Bucha toldThe New York Timeshe and his team hadcollected more than 100 bodies in recent weeks. Only three of the bodies, the coroner said, were Ukrainian soldiers. The others were civilians and most had died as a result of being shot or hit with shrapnel.
Without any electricity for refrigeration at the morgue, a mass grave became the only solution — and a signal to the world.
Speakingto Reuters on Sunday, Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said: “Corpses of executed people still line the Yabluska street in Bucha. Their hands are tied behind their backs with white ‘civilian’ rags, they were shot in the back of their heads. So you can imagine what kind of lawlessness they perpetrated here.”
“We know that thousands of people have been killed and tortured,” he said, his expression darkening. “Their limbs were cut off. Raped women, killed children. I think that this is … actually genocide.”
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Zelenskyy’s trip to Bucha followed a weekly, videotaped address in which he spoke about the atrocities on Sunday.
“The world has already seen many war crimes. At different times. On different continents. But it is time to do everything possible to make the war crimes of the Russian military the last manifestation of such evil on earth,” he said,CNN reports.
The latest accounts of civilian deaths spurred further condemnation of Russia. President Joe Biden said there should be a"war crime trial"and the U.S. said it wantedRussia suspendedfrom the United Nations' Human Rights Council.
Russian invasion of Ukraine.SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty
Russia’sattack on Ukrainecontinues after their forces launched a large-scale invasion on Feb. 24 — the first major land conflict in Europe in decades.
With NATO forces massing in the region around Ukraine, various countries have also pledged aid or military support to the resistance. Zelenskyy has called for peace talks — so far unsuccessful — while urging his country to fight back.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.
“Nobody is going to break us, we’re strong, we’re Ukrainians,“he told the European Unionin a speech in the early days of the fighting, adding, “Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness.”
source: people.com
