Embarrassed Russia Denies Civilian Killings, Urge UN to Hold Special Session to Discuss “Bucha Genocide”

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, April 4: Hugely embarrassed by the world accusing it of genocide by the retreating Russian army in Bucha town on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv, Russia’s foreign ministry said it would reiterate its request for the United Nation’s Security Council to meet on Monday over what Moscow called the “criminal provocations by Ukrainian soldiers and radicals.”

Russia kept insisting that its army had not killed a single civilian during its entire mission in Ukraine and the Bucha killings were stage-managed by Ukraine to defame Russia in the eyes of the world. Most of the countries are not ready to believe Russia’s version and said if Ukraine’s claims of genocide was even partly correct, the Russian president Vladimir Putin should be tried as a “war criminal.”

Britain’s mission to the United Nations, which holds the presidency of the 15-member council for April, had said the Council would hold a scheduled discussion on Ukraine on Tuesday, and not meet on Monday as requested by Russia.

“Today Russia will again demand that the U.N. Security Council convene in connection with the criminal provocations of Ukrainian servicemen and radicals in this city,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel.

Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday they were investigating possible war crimes by Russia after finding hundreds of bodies strewn around towns outside the capital Kyiv following Russian troops’ withdrawal from the area.

The Russian defence ministry said the images distributed by Ukraine were “another staged performance by the Kyiv regime”, and Russia’s chief investigator on Monday ordered a probe on the basis that Ukraine had spread “deliberately false information” about Russian armed forces in Bucha.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that Ukraine’s version of what happened in the town of Bucha was a “fake attack” aimed at undermining Moscow. The satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of Bucha, Ukraine, with the church of St. Andrew at center and the site of a probable mass grave just above that. Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday they were investigating possible crimes by Russian forces after finding hundreds of bodies strewn around towns like Bucha outside the capital Kyiv after the Russian withdrawal from the area. Lavrov said the dead bodies were “staged” and that images of them and what he said was Ukraine’s false version of events had been spread on social media by Western countries and Ukraine.

Britain has condemned Russia’s “barbaric” killing of civilians in Ukraine, though it stopped short of calling Moscow’s actions genocide. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman, Max Blain, said bodies found in areas recently recaptured from Russia showed “despicable attacks against innocent civilians, and they are yet more evidence that Putin and his army are committing what appear to be war crimes in Ukraine.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday described reports of rape and other atrocities by Russian troops in Ukraine as “reprehensible.” Bodies with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture lay scattered in a city on the outskirts of Kyiv after Russian soldiers withdrew from the area. Ukrainian authorities accused the departing forces on Sunday of committing war crimes and leaving behind a “scene from a horror movie.” “The reports of Ukrainian civilians who have been killed, raped and severely wounded by Russian troops is beyond reprehensible,” Ardern told reporters in the New Zealand capital Wellington. “Russia must answer to the world for what they’ve done,” she said.

Ukraine called for an International Criminal Court investigation that France and Britain said they would support, and rights group Human Rights Watch said it had documented “apparent war crimes.” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Bucha on Monday and his government said 50 of some 300 bodies found in the village northwest of Kyiv city were victims of extra-judicial killings by Russian troops. Rejecting the claim, Russia said alleged “crimes” by its troops in Bucha were a “provocation” and no resident suffered. This comes after satellite images showed a 14-m-long trench dug into the grounds of a church where a mass grave was found.

Meanwhile, explosions were heard in the cities of Kherson and Odesa, in the south and sounded across Ukraine’s east. Heavy fighting has continued in Mariupol as Russian forces attempt to take the south-eastern port city, British military intelligence said. A Russian helicopter was seen splitting into two after an attack by the Ukrainian forces, according to UK media reports. The missile used by the Ukrainian military is British-made Starstreak, the report further said.

The report is based on inputs from sources in the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, who said the anti-aircraft system had been deployed in the country for almost a week. This is the first use of the high-velocity missile built by Britain. The Starstreak is the UK’s most advanced manned portable missile system and hits targets with three kinetic darts. It is made by Thales. Britain’s Defence Minister Ben Wallace had said last month that they will supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missiles to help it defend its skies from Russian invasion which began on February 24. He had called the missile system “vital” for the Ukraine in a statement in Britain’s Parliament.

Starstreak is a laser-guided missile that travels more than three times the speed of sound to take down low-flying enemy jets and attack helicopters.

Before this, Britain provided thousands of anti-tank missiles which have helped slow the Russian advance on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted that Britain will provide further defensive support to Ukraine, including a new package of 6,000 missiles. The Russian forces are now focusing towards eastern Ukraine, with reports saying that about 60,000 Russian reservists called in to reinforce the offensive there.

Shelling hit the eastern city of Kharkiv on Sunday, causing seven deaths and dozens of injuries, local prosecutors said while missiles struck near the southern port of Odesa, with Russia saying it had destroyed an oil refinery used by the Ukrainian military. The Odesa city council said “critical infrastructure facilities” were hit.

Even as the Ukrainian forces are claimed to have re-taken Kyiv, the city mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said the Kyiv residents who evacuated to safer regions should wait several more days before returning to Ukraine’s capital. “Firstly, there is currently a round-the-clock curfew in Kyiv region. Secondly, in certain … towns near Kyiv, it’s likely that Russian occupiers left landmines, and there are (likely) a lot of unexploded munitions,” Klitschko said.

Russia plans to end its ban on flights to and from 52 countries after April 9 as Moscow continues to lift Covid-19 related restrictions, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Monday. Russia plans to resume flights to and from Argentina, South Africa and other ‘friendly countries’, Mishustin said, referring to nations which did not join the latest wave of western sanctions on Moscow.