BUCHA: The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor visited the town of Bucha on Wednesday — the scene of hundreds of civilian killings which Ukraine has blamed on Russian forces who occupied it for several weeks.
“Ukraine is a crime scene. We’re here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court are being committed”, Karim Khan told reporters
“We have to pierce the fog of war to get to the truth. That requires independent, impartial investigation”, he said.
Khan said an ICC forensic team was set to work “so that we can really make sure we separate truth from fiction”.
“We have to keep an open mind and we have to follow the evidence”, he said.
“The law needs to be mobilised and sent into battle to protect civilians”.
Russia has denied responsibility for the deaths and President Vladimir Putin has dismissed reports of Russian soldiers shooting civilians as “fake”.
Meanwhile, Russia has firmly rejected US accusations of genocide in Ukraine. “We categorically disagree with them”, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov commented after remarks by US President Joe Biden.
“We consider attempts to twist the situation in this way unacceptable”, Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “Even more, as we have already said, it is hardly acceptable for the president of the United States of America.”
Biden on Tuesday accused Russia’s President Vladimir Putin of genocide in the face of atrocities in Ukraine. “Yes, I called it genocide. It has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being — being able to be — Ukrainian”, Biden said.
A week and a half ago, pictures of the bodies of hundreds of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha on the outskirts of Kiev caused horror around the world.
A rocket attack on refugees at the Kramatorsk railway station also shocked the world. Kiev blames Russian soldiers for the crime and speaks of genocide. Moscow denies any responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile, the Polish and Baltic presidents visited the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka not far from Kyiv, with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda saying it was “permeated with pain and suffering”.
“It is hard to believe that such war atrocities could be perpetrated in 21st-century Europe, but that is the reality. This is a war we must win”, Nauseda said in a statement. “The place is permeated with pain and suffering. Civilian Ukrainians were murdered and tortured here, and residential homes and other civilian infrastructure were bombed.”
Poland had announced earlier that Nauseda and his fellow heads of state — Polish President Andrzej Duda, Estonia’s Alar Karis and Latvia’s Egils Levits — had met in the Polish city of Rzeszow near the Ukraine border before boarding a train for Kyiv. — AFP
