War in Ukraine, day 40: Evidence of mass murder in Bucha, more than 400 killed

Bucha, a town near Kyiv, will remain in everyone’s memory as the scene of a massacre. Some sources said that 400 locals have been executed by retreating Russian forces, while other said there were almost 300. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says it was a genocide ordered in a war of annihilation. NATO speaks of “horrible” and “absolutely unacceptable” acts, Germany calls for clarification on “crimes committed by the Russian army” against civilians, while France says that the Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes.

Satellite images of Bucha show a 13-meter-long ditch at the site of a mass grave. They were caught on March 31 by the American satellite data company Maxar. It looks like a ditch in a churchyard. The company said it had noticed signs that excavations had been carried out there since March 10.

Inside the mass grave discovered in Bucha, corpses are seen piled on top of each other, most in black bags, but some uncovered. Only some bodies are buried. A CNN team saw at least a dozen bodies in the mass grave, but the ground looks as if it has just been dug, which is why many more may be underneath.

Bucha survivors say the first bodies were buried there in the early days of the war. A CNN team saw bodies in bags piled up in the grave. Some have already been partially covered. Locals told CNN that about 150 people are buried there. The mayor of Bucha said there could be up to 300 victims buried on the spot.

It is believed Russians have killed all man from 18 to 60 from Bucha, as many of them went missing for a week, but there also women and children thought to have been killed. Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk says authorities are now trying to identify locals shot “indiscriminately” by Russian troops – children, mothers and the elderly – who posed no threat. According to the mayor, many of the victims were elderly, but many children and teenagers were also killed. The mayor also said that “half of the city is destroyed. “We shall never forget the Russians for the atrocities committed here,” he said.

Other mass graves have been discovered also in Irpin and Hostomel, near the Kyiv area. The mayor of the village of Motijin near Kiev, her husband and their son were shot and thrown into a shallow pit, an adviser from the Ukrainian Interior Ministry also announced on Monday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky went to Bucha, on Monday, where the bodies of civilians executed on the streets and mass graves were discovered after the withdrawal of Russian troops. He said that Ukraine would not be quiet until the perpetrators of these atrocities were identified and held accountable and that it was becoming increasingly difficult for his country to continue negotiations with Russia.

Zelensky also said it had become more difficult for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia, now seeing the magnitude of the atrocities committed by Russian troops in Ukraine.

#Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited #Bucha, where evidence of mass murders of civilians was found

He visited the road with destroyed #Russian equipment and talked to local residents. Zelenskyy also stated that #Russia committed war crimes and genocide in #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/9ay1nyDG0y

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 4, 2022

The European Union is urgently discussing new sanctions against Moscow after the discovery of the bodies of civilians in the Kiev region, especially in Bucha, European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said on Monday. “The EU condemns in the strongest terms the reported atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces in several occupied Ukrainian cities, which have now been released,” Borrell said in a statement.

US President Joe Biden has also condemned the new atrocities, calling Vladimir Putin again “a war criminal”, “a brute”, and asking “a trial for war crimes” and further sanctions against Russia.

“You may remember that I was criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth is, you saw what happened in Bucha. This shows that he is a war criminal. But we need to gather the information. We must continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to continue the fight, and we must get all the details so that this can be a real process – a war crimes trial. This guy is a jerk and what happened in Bucha is outrageous and everyone has seen it,” Biden told reporters on landing in Washington, DC.

Asked if the crimes committed in Bucha justify a genocide, Biden told reporters: “No. I think it’s a war crime. “

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that more sanctions were needed against Russia after Ukraine accused Russian forces of killing civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bukha. Macron told France Inter radio that there were “very clear indications” that Russian forces were responsible for war crimes in Ukraine. According to the Financial Times, quoting EU ambassadors, they will discuss new measures against Moscow on Wednesday, according to a diplomat quoted by the Financial Times.

In his turn, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has condemned the “shocking and horrific” killing of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, saying Russia is responsible for them, writes Agerpres. “We strongly condemn the killing of civilians in Ukraine, we remain mobilized to hold the Russian regime accountable,” Justin Trudeau wrote on Twitter. “Those responsible for these shocking and horrific attacks will be brought to justice,” he added.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said images of dead Ukrainian civilians found in the town of Bucha after Russian troops left were a “punch in the gut” and those responsible for any war crimes must be held accountable. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said images of dead Ukrainian civilians found in the town of Bucha after Russian troops left were a “punch in the gut” and those responsible for any war crimes must be held accountable.

“We can’t help but see these images as a punch in the gut,” Blinken said in a CNN interview.

“There needs to be accountability,” he said. “But I think the most important thing is we can’t become numb to this. We can’t normalize this. This is the reality of what’s going on every single day as long as Russia’s brutality against Ukraine continues.”

Blinken’s comments in a CNN interview on Sunday came a day after Ukrainian forces moved into the town near Kyiv and found what officials and witnesses said were the bodies of nearly 300 civilians killed by Russian troops.

In retort, Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed that the images of dead civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha were “commissioned” by the United States as part of a plot to blame Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Bucha massacre was a “fake attack” with “staged” images meant to undermine Russia.

“Who are the masters of the challenge? Of course the United States and NATO,” previously had said the ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zaharova in a state television interview. Zakharova claims that the West’s immediate reaction to the images of dead civilians indicates that the story was part of a plan to tarnish Russia’s reputation.

Meanwhile, the Russia media close to Kremlin have kept on sending messages all day long that the crimes in Bucha had been in fact committed by the Ukrainian nationalists and the victims were “Russian supporters”.

Amnesty International: Apparent war crimes by Russian forces in Bucha must be investigated

Following reports of apparent war crimes committed by Russian military forces against civilians in Bucha, Amnesty International condemned the mass killing and said that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is itself a crime under humanitarian law.

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said: “These reports from Bucha are showing a wider pattern of war crimes including extrajudicial executions and torture in other occupied areas of Ukraine. We fear the violence suffered by civilians in Bucha at the hands of Russian soldiers is not unique. These incidents should be investigated as war crimes. To date, Amnesty International has gathered evidence of civilians in Ukraine killed by indiscriminate attacks in Kharkiv and Sumy Oblast, documented an airstrike that killed civilians queueing for food in Chernihiv, and gathered evidence from civilians living under siege in Kharkiv, Izium and Mariupol.”

Later this week, Amnesty International will publish new testimony gathered during an on-the-ground investigation in a number of towns in the wider Kyiv region.

As Russia continues its war against Ukraine, Amnesty International is continuing to document violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. All of Amnesty International’s outputs published to date – including news updates, briefings and investigations can be found here.

The Guardian: Rape has become Russia’s weapon on Ukraine

With the withdrawal of Moscow troops from the occupied areas of northern Ukraine, more and more testimonies of Ukrainian women who have fallen victim to rape and sexual assault by the Russian military are emerging. In fact, since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s soldiers have used rape as a weapon, according to an article published by The Guardian. What is extremely difficult for many to realize is the magnitude of this phenomenon.

Ukrainian women and girls have told local authorities, the media or human rights organizations of their terrible experiences and atrocities. The most horrific such testimonies include gang rape, rape at gunpoint, or rape in front of one’s own children.

3,455 civilian casualties

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a report released Monday that from February 24 to April 2, at midnight, 3,455 civilian casualties were reported in Ukraine: 1,417 people were killed and 2,038 were killed. injured. Of the civilians killed, 293 are men, 201 women, 22 girls and 40 boys. In addition, 59 children and 802 adults died, it is not known if they were women or men. Among the more than 2,000 injured are 92 children. The highest number of casualties was in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 468 dead and 1,036 injured. The OHCHR considers that the balance is in fact considerably higher, but there are delays in verifying information in areas where hostilities are intense.

Zelenski: Torturers, rapists, robbers … who call themselves an army

The new sanctions imposed by the West are not a sufficient punishment for killing civilians in Ukrainian cities, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a new video message. He announced that a special mechanism would be set up to investigate the crimes and prosecute the perpetrators, an investigation in which Ukrainian and international experts would cooperate. Switching from Ukrainian to Russian, the Kyiv leader spoke directly to the mothers of Russian soldiers sent by Putin to invade Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine: “Hundreds of people were killed. Civilians tortured, executed. Corpses on the streets … Concentrated evil has come to our land. Criminals. Torturers, rapists, robbers … who call themselves an army. And they deserve only death after they’ve done it. I want every Russian soldier’s mother to see the bodies of people killed in Bucha, Irpin, and Hostomel. Look at the bastards you raised. Criminals, robbers, butchers . Why were ordinary civilians from an ordinary peaceful city tortured to death?” What has the Ukrainian city of Bucha done to your Russia? How was all this possible? I want all the leaders of the Russian Federation to see how their orders are carried out. This is how the Russian state will be perceived now. This is your image. “

Russians continue to act in the east

Meanwhile, the war continues in its 40th day, with Russian military forces “continuing to consolidate and reorganize as they reorient their offensive in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine,” as the United Kingdom Defense Ministry said on Monday.

“Russian troops, including mercenaries from the private military company Wagner, who have links with Russia, are being moved to the area,” the British Defense Ministry said, CNN reports.

The news comes as US officials say Russia has revised its war strategy in Ukraine to focus on trying to take control of the Donbas and other eastern regions. British officials have warned in recent weeks that fighters in the Wagner group of mercenaries are likely to be used by Russia, largely due to low morale among Russian forces and the blockade of the invasion.

Russia is mobilizing another 60,000 troops, according to the Ukrainian army. Wagner mercenaries seen

Russia has launched a “hidden mobilization” of some 60,000 troops to restore units lost during the invasion of Ukraine, the Kiev military says in an operational report released Monday morning, according to the BBC and The Guardian. “The armed forces of the Russian Federation intend to employ about 60,000 people during the mobilization,” said the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff, adding that those who already have combat experience have priority in the selection process. Russian authorities have not commented on the Ukrainian report. The information provided by Kyiv could not be independently verified, according to the quoted sources.

At the same time, Wagner mercenaries have begun to be seen in Donetsk, says Christo Grozev of the well-known Bellingcat investigation site. The journalist notes that some of them have told him (in the past) that they are really Nazis, which is really ironic, given that the war was started by Putin under the pretext of “denazifying” Ukraine.

Wagner mercenaries spotted in Donetsk. Photo, released by a GRU-linked blogger, made in front of Park Inn hotel where @OSCE was housed until recently (thus photo = now). Many of the Wagnerites are true Nazies, as some of them have told me. The irony. pic.twitter.com/zeCthglAov

— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) April 4, 2022

Pictures from the Mariupol theater after the rocket attack

The first images appeared inside the theater in Mariupol, attacked with rockets in the middle of last month. The building bears deep traces of projectiles fired by Russian soldiers, charred or demolished walls, collapsed stairs and ceilings.At the time of the attack, more than 1,300 people were taking refuge in the theater of dramatic art in the port city on the Sea of ​​Azov. Nearly 200 of them were rescued.