KYIV, 4 April: An estimated 300 bodies were found in the suburbs of Bucha as Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of carrying out massacres in their invasion of the country.
In a brief interview with Reuters, the city’s mayor, Anatoly Fedoruk, claimed that around 270 residents were buried in two mass graves while others could be found laying on the streets.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of the mass killings, describing the action as a “massacre”. He has requested the ICC to collect evidence of the war crimes to bring justice to those who were responsible.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine would later classify the action as an act of genocide towards Ukrainian nationalities.
During an interview with the American news outlet, CBS, he said, “This is genocide. We are the citizens of Ukraine; we have more than 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities.”
Graphic images and evidence of the incident have resulted in calls for new sanctions on Moscow by Western powers. The UK and members of the European Union have also supported the need for investigative probes in regards to proving Russia as the culprit for the deaths.
Russia’s defence ministry, in its statement on Sunday, said: ‘During the time that Russian armed forces were in control of this settlement, not a single local resident suffered from any violent actions.”
It added that before Russian troops withdrew on March 30 they delivered 452 tons of humanitarian aid to civilians around the Kyiv region.
The former Soviet power retaliated as its foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the accusations were made to hinder attempts at peace talks between Moscow and the UN Security Council.
The ministry has also claimed that footages in Bucha were fake and accused Ukrainian forces of civilians deaths within the vicinity. -TVS