NEW YORK – The world is shocked by the images arriving from Bucha, with dozens of civilian bodies lining the streets, in what appears to be a ruthless execution by retreating Russian soldiers. It is the day when many are asking for the indictment of Russian President Vladimir Putin for “war crimes”, echoing the appeal launched yesterday by the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. And new sanctions in Moscow. But in the meantime the war, having reached the 38th day, goes on.
The city of Chernihiv, said the mayor, is 70 percent destroyed. Here, too, as in Bucha and Irpin, Kharkiv and Mariupol, civilian bodies were found on the street. Odessa continues to be under attack, while Kiev accuses Moscow of having deported 40,000 people from Mariupol to Russian territory. News from the front confirms what many feared: the Russians are not retreating. The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg also declared: “What we are witnessing – he commented on the Cnn – it’s not a real retreat. The Russians are repositioning themselves. We must not be too optimistic, because the attacks will continue ”. Statement in line with that of White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who ad Abc he said: “I think the Ukrainians are winning the war around Kiev and in the north of the country, but it is far from over.”
Bucha, but not only: here is the long catalog of horrors against civilians documented by Human Rights Watch
by Alberto Flores D’Arcais
Zelensky accuses Putin of genocide
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, guest of the American network Cbs, accused Russia of genocide. “This is genocide – she said – the elimination of an entire nation and its people. We are citizens of Ukraine, we have more than one hundred nationalities. This is the extermination of all nationalities ”. “I don’t understand – she added – why even the children were tortured and killed. Isn’t killing enough for these criminals? ”.
Ukrainian liberators discover horror: “Executed men and corpses in the street”
by our correspondent Corrado Zunino
Regarding the appeal launched by the former chief prosecutor of the International Tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, who had called for the issuance of an arrest warrant for war crimes against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky said that it is not enough: ” It doesn’t have to be just about him (Putin, ed), but all military commanders, all those who gave the orders must be punished ”. At the moment, the Ukrainian president has ruled out the possibility of meeting Putin. “First there is a ceasefire, then we can meet”. Zelensky accused Russian soldiers of planting bombs and mines to cause new massacres. 643 explosives were found in Irpin. The Ukrainian attorney general denounced the use of children as “human shields”.
The secret missions of CIA chief William Burns in Kiev and Moscow
by Massimo Basile
The Pope condemns Moscow: “Unjust and savage war”
“Your stories suggest those of thousands and thousands of people forced to flee Ukraine due to the unjust and savage war.” Pope Francis said this today during the meeting with migrants of the “Giovanni XXIII Peace Lab” Center in Malta.
From Kiev they reiterate: images from Bucha confirm “war crimes”
“War crimes” is the charge that dominates the day. President Zelensky’s spokesman also spoke of what “appears precisely as war crimes”. The reference is to the chilling images of the bodies of killed civilians found on the streets of Bucha, outside Kiev, after the withdrawal of Russian soldiers. Many people, according to the city mayor, had their hands tied and a bullet hole in the back of their heads, as if they had been cold killed. Seregey Nikiforov told the Bbc that the scenes discovered in the liberated territories such as Bucha are “difficult to describe”. “We found mass graves – said the president’s spokesman – dead people, with tied hands and legs”.
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by our correspondent Fabio Tonacci
From the UK to the European Parliament: Russia will have to be accountable
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, called the images of the massacres carried out by the Russians in Bucha “punch in the stomach”. The head of US diplomacy has promised that Washington will join its allies so that those responsible can answer for the atrocities. Condemnations also came from European leaders. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the UK will not “rest” until those responsible for the atrocities in Ukraine are brought to trial. “Their indiscriminate attacks – said the minister – must be investigated as war crimes. We will not allow Russia to cover up its responsibilities through cynical disinformation ”. The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, spoke of “the cold reality of Putin’s war crimes”.
New sanctions on the way to Moscow
The demand for new sanctions against Russia is growing. An advisor to the Ukrainian presidency has called for the West to start a fifth wave of sanctions, but this time to be even tougher and more comprehensive, and to affect all Russian banks, as well as an embargo on all trade and closure. ports to ships. And the US is preparing a new wave of sanctions. State Department spokesman Ned Price said. “Very soon – he added – you will see that our pressure on Putin and the Kremlin will increase”.