World Opinion Growing against Russia on Bucha Genocide
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, April 5: Even as Russia Repeatedly kept denying any civilian killings, world opinion continued to grow against Moscow over the alleged “Bucha genocide” as Ukraine on Tuesday claimed to have unearthed more bodies of brutally killed civilians by the retreating Russian army.
According to Ukraine’s prosecutor-general Iryna Venediktova, the bodies of 410 civilians have been removed from Kyiv-area towns that were recently retaken from Russian forces. The Ukrainian authorities had earlier claimed to have found over 300 bodies in a “mass grave” in Bucha town on the outskirts of the capital city of Kyiv.
The reports of the Bucha genocide has made more world leaders to rally around for the “arrest and trial” of the Russian president Vladimir Putin for war crimes and suspend Russia from its seat on the U.N.’s top human rights body.
The Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to try to encash the growing anti-Russia sentiments in the West world and several other countries when he address the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday night for the first time since the invasion of his country.
Zelensky is expected to discuss the grisly discovery of dozens of bodies in Bucha and other towns around Kyiv, from which Russian forces have withdrawn. During a visit to Bucha on Monday, he accused Russia of “genocide.” US President Joe Biden has called for a war crimes trial and more sanctions on Russia over the deaths in Bucha.
The European Union offered to send a team of investigators to Ukraine gather evidence. The EU said it was discussing new punitive measures against Moscow. A top official said the EU was considering sanctions on Russian oil and coal.
Moscow denied responsibility for civilian deaths, claiming images of dead bodies in Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs are “fakes”. The Russian Defence Ministry accused the Ukrainian military of staging civilian deaths in a video it claimed was made on Monday in the village of Motyzhyn, but provided no proof of its claims.
Ukrainian authorities said they found the bodies of five civilians with their hands tied in Motyzhyn, including those of the mayor, her husband and son. Police showed four bodies, including that of the mayor, half-buried in a grave in a forest near her house and a fifth body in a nearby well.
According to reports the dead, including two men not part of the mayor’s family, had their hands tied behind their backs. The mayor, Olga Sukhenko aged 50, her husband and their son, were abducted by Russian troops on March 24, police said.
Residents said the mayor and her husband had refused to collaborate with the invading Russian forces. On March 11, the mayor of Melitopol in southern Ukraine was abducted by Russian troops but released after a few days. In Bucha, a town located about 30 kilometres north of Motyzhyn, the bodies of dead civilians have been found scattered on the streets and in mass graves sparking allegations of war crimes.
The Red Cross said a team that was detained on its way to help evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol on Monday has been released. The workers were detained in the town of Mangush, which is under Russian control.
Russian troops are gearing up for a big attack in the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine, the local governor Sergiy Gaiday said on Telegram. “We see that equipment is coming from different directions, they are bringing manpower, they are bringing fuel,” he said.
Denmark said it is expelling 15 Russian diplomats for spying, a day after Germany and France also ordered dozens of Russian diplomats home. The former Soviet republic of Lithuania also expelled the Russian ambassador to Vilnius over what it calls the “horrific massacre” in Bucha and atrocities in other cities.
As Russian invasion of Ukranian territories continues, Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says the country feels no impact from the expulsion of its diplomats by various European countries, and indicates Russia will respond in kind.
His comments came after Germany expelled 40 Russian diplomats Monday and Lithuania expelled the Russian ambassador and said it would recall its envoy in Moscow. France on Monday also announced it will expel “numerous” Russian diplomats.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says more than 1,550 civilians were evacuated on Monday from the besieged port of Mariupol in south-eastern Ukraine.
President Zelensky on Tuesday said Ukraine’s efforts to push back Russian troops from Mariupol were facing difficulties. In a televised interview with local media, Zelensky said the military situation in the southern port city was “very difficult.” He also said Turkey had proposed a plan to help evacuate wounded people and dead bodies from the city, but cautioned that the initiative depended on the will of Vladimir Putin.
