President of Ukraine – Volodymyr Zelensky will address the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Tuesday, where he will highlight the alleged killings of innocent civilians by Russian forces at the town of Bucha near capital Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to press for new and tougher sanctions on Russia over the killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, which he has termed ‘genocide’.
Allegations of Russian war crimes in war-ravaged Ukraine found credence following recovery of hundreds of bodies of civilians, lying abandoned in streets near Ukrainian capital Kyiv, following retreat of Russian forces from these areas.
Ukraine has accused Russia of a “deliberate massacre” in the town of Bucha located around 30 kilometres north-west of Kyiv.
Ukrainian troopers reportedly found brutalized bodies of civilians with bound hands, gunshot wounds to the head and signs of torture after Russian forces retreated from the outskirts of Kyiv.
Satellite imagery by Maxar Technologies taken on March 31 show the trench near the Church of St Andrews and Pervozvannoho All Saints where a mass grave has been identified.
Ukrainian authorities have found the bodies of five civilians with their hands tied in a village west of Kiev, including those of the mayor, her husband and son.
The mayor, Olga Sukhenko aged 50, her husband and their son, were abducted by Russian troops on March 24, police said.
Also read: Killings in Ukraine Bucha is genocide: President Volodymyr Zelensky
Mayor Olga Sukhenko and her family were shot and thrown into a pit in a forest behind a plot of land with several houses that the Russian forces then took over in the town of Motyzhyn
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dymtro Kuleba said: “Bucha massacre was deliberate. Russians aim to eliminate as many Ukrainians as they can. We must stop them and kick them out. I demand new devastating G7 sanctions now.”
Recovery of massacred civilians has sparked new calls for war crimes investigations and sanctions against Russia.
World leaders have accused Russia of war crimes following discovery of mass graves and allegedly executed civilians near Kyiv.
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US President Joe Biden has called for a war crimes trial and more sanctions on Russia.
The European Union (EU) said that it is ready to send a team of investigators to gather evidence of possible war crimes after the mass graves were discovered close to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Russia has refuted the allegations of its forces killing civilians, claiming that the images of dead bodies in Bucha are ‘fakes’ produced by “Ukrainian radicals”.
Russian Ambassador to the United States – Anatoly Antonov said that reports of Russian atrocities in Bucha are “false accusations.”
Antonov claimed that Ukrainian forces launched artillery fire on Bucha following the withdrawal of Russian forces.