Global condemnation of Russia after mass grave discovery, ‘genocide’

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

London: Russia could be stripped of its position on the United Nation’s Human Right Council after the horrific discovery of hundreds of corpses strewn across streets on the outskirts of Kyiv – some shot at close range with their hands tied – sparked global condemnation of Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

Outrage is building after reports emerged of civilian executions and mass graves among other atrocities committed by Russian troops in the city of Bucha, about an hour from the capital. Local authorities estimate more than 300 of the town’s citizens were killed before Russian troops retreated at the weekend.

Soldiers walk amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, outside Kyiv.Credit:AP

European Union investigators will help probe claims from Ukrainian officials and charities that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces massacred and raped civilians, with reports, images and video footage prompting calls for prosecutions of war crimes and crimes against humanity against those responsible.

US President Joe Biden called for Putin to personally face a war crimes trial after alleged atrocities emerged in liberated towns surrounding Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv.

“You saw what happened in Bucha,” Biden told reporters, saying Putin “is a war criminal” and there should be “a war crimes trial”.

“We have to gather all the details so that we can have a war crimes trial. He should be held accountable,” he said.

The Kremlin said on Monday that images and videos of corpses were “fakes” and denied that Russian forces were responsible for killing civilians near Kyiv. It followed a statement from Russia’s defence ministry that made the extraordinary claim that “not a single local resident has suffered from any violent action”.

Western officials also believed China was ready to loan Russia “significant amounts of money”, in a move that would transform the relationship between the two autocratic states.

“The Chinese are very focussed on the global economic aspects of the conflict,” officials said, in a briefing attended by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. ” Officials said while the Chinese were “embarrassed by Russia’s actions in the UN and the disinformation it is putting out, there were “no signs” that Beijing was moving away from Moscow. But the atrocities in Bucha could influence any change.

US President Joe Biden on April 4.Credit:Ting Shen/Bloomberg

“If the Chinese come to be associated with war crimes, then they’re going to want to review that quite carefully,” Western officials said.

Visiting Bucha on Tuesday morning (AEST), Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky labelled what he had witnessed on the streets as “genocide”. His government is warning it could be “just the tip of the iceberg” and besieged Mariupol would likey be “much worse”.

“These are war crimes and will be recognised by the world as genocide,” Zelensky said while wearing a bullet-proof vest alongside military personnel.

Bodies lie in a mass grave in Bucha outside Kyiv.Credit:AP

“We know of thousands of people killed and tortured, with severed limbs, raped women and murdered children,” he said.

“It’s very difficult to talk when you see what they’ve done here,” he added, vowing to make sure those responsible are held to account.

Russia is in its second year of a three-year term on the 47-member council, which cannot make legally binding decisions. But its decisions send important political messages and it can authorise investigations.

Last month it opened an investigation into allegations of rights violations, including possible war crimes, in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion. Thirty-two members voted in favour of the resolution, brought by Ukraine. Russia and Eritrea voted against while 13, including China, abstained.

A two-thirds majority vote by the 193-member assembly in New York can suspend a state for persistently committing gross and systematic violations of human rights.

In Poland ahead of G7 and NATO talks in Brussels later this week, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Russia “must be suspended” from the UN body given “strong evidence of war crimes, including reports of mass graves and heinous butchery”.

Truss said she would be working with allies to go further banning Russian ships from western ports, cracking down on Russian banks and going after new industries “filling Putin’s war chest, like gold”.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for Russian oil and coal imports to be targeted in a new wave of sanctions against Moscow.

He told French radio there were “very clear clues pointing to war crimes”, adding: “What happened in Bucha demands a new round of sanctions and very clear measures.”

Germany reacted to the latest allegations of war crimes by expelling a “significant number” of Russian diplomats, with its Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock saying it was a response to the “unbelievable brutality” the Kremlin had unleashed in Ukraine.

The West expects Russia has repositioned about two-thirds of its forces from around Kyiv, with many consolidating in Belarus where they are expected to be refit, resupplied and redeployed elsewhere in Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities said the Russian army had placed mines in children’s play areas, and booby trapped front doors of apartments and alleyways.

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.

Most Viewed in World

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article

Previous post Medicare enrollees to get free COVID-19 tests at drug stores
Next post World reacts in fury over Russia's atrocities in Bucha… China silent