Russia denies killing civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha: “It is a provocation”

Russia denied today that Russian troops have killed civilians in the city of Buchain the kyiv region, and assured that all the photos and videos published by the Ukrainian government are a “provocation”.

“The Ministry of Defense of Russia refutes the accusations of the kyiv regime about the alleged murder of civilians in the town of Bucha, kyiv region”said the military entity in its official Telegram account.

“All the photos and all the videos published by the kyiv regime, which allegedly testify to some kind of ‘crime’ by Russian military personnel in the city of Bucha they are another provocation,” he said.

General shock over the Bucha massacre

The discovery of hundreds of bodies of civilians summarily executed after the Russian withdrawal from the northern suburbs of Kyiv has shocked this Sunday Ukraine and to the whole of Europe, when media images shed light on the scale of a massacre for which Russia denies any responsibility.

The body of a civilian with his hands tied behind his back lies on the street in Bucha as a worker prepares a plastic bag to be carried into a car. (SERGEI SUPINSKY / AFP).

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that it is the worst “massacre” in Europe since World War II, and added that “we still collect and search for bodies, but we have already counted hundreds,” according to the Interfax agency.

the mayor of Buchaa city of 35,000 inhabitants northwest of the Ukrainian capital, announced yesterday that, after the “liberation” of the area on March 31, 280 bodies had already been buried in a mass grave, given the impossibility of using the cemetery municipal.

Entire families killed

“Some were lying on the sidewalk, others next to a car or a bicycle”, affirmed in a video broadcast by Facebook the councilor, Anatoli Fedoruk, who indicated that the Russian soldiers had killed “whole families of children, women, grandmothers, men.”

A corpse lies on the ground in a street in Bucha, northwest of kyiv. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP).

In images released by the Ukrainian government Dozens of bodies can be seen in civilian clothes – many of them handcuffed – still in the streets while demining is taking placeas well as corpses partially covered with earth, a vision confirmed by international media reporters who entered the area, under curfew until next Tuesday, April 5.

“Kyiv Independent” reporter Anastasia Lapatina stated that in addition the naked bodies of five women had been foundwhile journalist Stanislav Asiejev commented that the placement of many bodies suggested that the Russians had gone house to house “systematically” executing men of fighting age.

The total number of victims could still rise significantly, since according to data from local health services, at least several dozen bodies were buried in mass graves in March, before Russian troops withdrew.

Some of the bodies found in the streets of Bucha, near kyiv, after the Russian withdrawal (RONALDO SCHEMIDT – AFP/)

Mission of the International Criminal Court

Kuleba requested this Sunday that the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other organizations send a mission to Bucha and to the rest of the suburbs that have been under Russian control to collect evidence of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Ministry has already sent the official petition to the ICC, according to Ukrainian sources.

The authorities in Kyiv have reacted with horror to the findings that have occurred in Buchawhich they have stated was aimed at eliminating as many civilians as possible, and have urged European governments to redouble pressure on Moscow.

In this sense, presidential adviser Mijailo Podolyak blamed the reluctance of European leaders to “provoke Russia” for the “unspeakable” atrocities in Russia. Bucha, Irpin and Hostomelwhich he compared with Srebrenica and Treblinka and asked if they would “organize another summit in which to express concern and shake their heads”.

international condemnation

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel declared himself “shocked” by the images of dead civilians and noted that the EU is assisting Ukraine and various NGOs in gathering evidence to bring the culprits to trial before international courts.

Also from Brussels, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyencalled for an “independent investigation” so that those responsible for the atrocities are held accountable to justice, This request was joined by the foreign ministers of Italy and the United Kingdom, among others.

What’s more French President Emmanuel Macron demanded that the Russian authorities “response” for the “unbearable” images recorded in Bucha.

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck advocated tightening sanctions against Russia in response to what he called “war crimes,” something he said he is working on at the European level.

The bodies lie on a street in Bucha, northwest of kyiv, with their hands torn off. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP).

Summary executions and rapes

A report published this Sunday by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) supports Habeck’s description and gives details on cases of summary executions of civilians, threats, rape and looting allegedly committed by Russian soldiers.

One of the documented executions took place in Bucha on March 4, where according to eyewitnesses, Moscow forces forced five civilians to kneel and shot one of them in the head.

In another case, in the Chernigov region (north), soldiers went house to house taking young men, supposedly for interrogation, and then executed six, according to the mother of one of them and other witnesses.

The report also includes the case of a woman from Kharkiv (northeast) who was raped and assaulted by a soldier on several occasions, while other instances of sexual abuse that have been reported to HRW have not yet been verified by the organization.

Source: Elcomercio