Zürcher Nachrichten - Outrage at Russian 'war crimes' swells, fresh attacks slam Ukraine

EUR -
AED 3.884622
AFN 71.845215
ALL 98.56526
AMD 409.224079
ANG 1.905628
AOA 965.621197
ARS 1056.318894
AUD 1.633339
AWG 1.906389
AZN 1.799806
BAM 1.964065
BBD 2.134884
BDT 126.351728
BGN 1.956737
BHD 0.398642
BIF 3122.028536
BMD 1.057636
BND 1.422847
BOB 7.305745
BRL 6.130005
BSD 1.057355
BTN 89.243286
BWP 14.514149
BYN 3.460262
BYR 20729.662984
BZD 2.131269
CAD 1.485153
CDF 3031.184243
CHF 0.938959
CLF 0.037313
CLP 1029.58763
CNY 7.644573
CNH 7.651958
COP 4740.059545
CRC 540.052286
CUC 1.057636
CUP 28.02735
CVE 110.730991
CZK 25.277288
DJF 188.283246
DKK 7.458786
DOP 63.947904
DZD 141.286364
EGP 52.196432
ERN 15.864538
ETB 131.064782
FJD 2.404319
FKP 0.83481
GBP 0.83347
GEL 2.882089
GGP 0.83481
GHS 16.996527
GIP 0.83481
GMD 75.091551
GNF 9112.486638
GTQ 8.165401
GYD 221.210926
HKD 8.233595
HNL 26.698482
HRK 7.544391
HTG 138.920831
HUF 406.658904
IDR 16814.083479
ILS 3.953755
IMP 0.83481
INR 89.295508
IQD 1385.129062
IRR 44531.757669
ISK 145.900769
JEP 0.83481
JMD 167.385201
JOD 0.749964
JPY 164.408966
KES 136.96951
KGS 91.48592
KHR 4294.64687
KMF 493.382838
KPW 951.871879
KRW 1475.254041
KWD 0.325202
KYD 0.881108
KZT 524.206025
LAK 23227.749724
LBP 94684.562614
LKR 308.909991
LRD 195.081889
LSL 19.353847
LTL 3.122924
LVL 0.639753
LYD 5.164759
MAD 10.560542
MDL 19.153604
MGA 4953.870876
MKD 61.730909
MMK 3435.160039
MNT 3593.846618
MOP 8.476271
MRU 42.0333
MUR 49.931234
MVR 16.351333
MWK 1833.424297
MXN 21.53867
MYR 4.728165
MZN 67.529792
NAD 19.353847
NGN 1766.685256
NIO 38.910252
NOK 11.706712
NPR 142.789579
NZD 1.80052
OMR 0.407214
PAB 1.05735
PEN 4.028955
PGK 4.189214
PHP 62.130289
PKR 293.676773
PLN 4.316474
PYG 8257.751231
QAR 3.854539
RON 4.976813
RSD 116.985418
RUB 105.579986
RWF 1451.716144
SAR 3.972546
SBD 8.866568
SCR 14.542056
SDG 636.163919
SEK 11.59133
SGD 1.417808
SHP 0.83481
SLE 24.00983
SLL 22178.100313
SOS 604.245714
SRD 37.394301
STD 21890.927079
SVC 9.251935
SYP 2657.341694
SZL 19.361571
THB 36.861252
TJS 11.271286
TMT 3.701726
TND 3.339469
TOP 2.47709
TRY 36.409859
TTD 7.179212
TWD 34.343573
TZS 2813.311443
UAH 43.588942
UGX 3880.329656
USD 1.057636
UYU 44.919247
UZS 13541.988977
VES 48.069456
VND 26853.374652
VUV 125.564655
WST 2.952487
XAF 658.732268
XAG 0.03451
XAU 0.000412
XCD 2.858314
XDR 0.796556
XOF 658.732268
XPF 119.331742
YER 264.25052
ZAR 19.237653
ZMK 9519.992964
ZMW 28.997029
ZWL 340.558318
  • RBGPF

    61.8400

    61.84

    +100%

  • RYCEF

    -0.3200

    6.79

    -4.71%

  • JRI

    -0.0300

    13.21

    -0.23%

  • SCS

    -0.1000

    13.27

    -0.75%

  • GSK

    -0.7200

    34.39

    -2.09%

  • CMSC

    -0.0600

    24.55

    -0.24%

  • RELX

    -0.1700

    45.95

    -0.37%

  • NGG

    0.2500

    62.37

    +0.4%

  • BTI

    0.0700

    35.49

    +0.2%

  • BCC

    -2.2000

    140.35

    -1.57%

  • RIO

    -0.1900

    60.43

    -0.31%

  • VOD

    -0.0700

    8.68

    -0.81%

  • BP

    0.4800

    29.05

    +1.65%

  • AZN

    -0.2500

    65.04

    -0.38%

  • BCE

    -0.3700

    26.84

    -1.38%

  • CMSD

    -0.0050

    24.725

    -0.02%

Outrage at Russian 'war crimes' swells, fresh attacks slam Ukraine
Outrage at Russian 'war crimes' swells, fresh attacks slam Ukraine

Outrage at Russian 'war crimes' swells, fresh attacks slam Ukraine

Global outrage at accusations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine mounted Sunday with the discovery of mass graves and corpses in streets near Kyiv, as President Volodymyr Zelensky directly blamed leaders in Moscow for the "torture" and "killings" of civilians.

Text size:

Britain, France, Germany, the United States, NATO and the United Nations all voiced horror and revulsion at the reports of civilians being murdered in Bucha, northwest of the capital, with the atrocities prompting vows of action at the International Criminal Court.

As global condemnation swelled, Russia launched multiple new attacks Sunday on cities including Ukraine's second-largest, Kharkiv, where seven people were killed and 34 wounded after Russian forces struck a residential area, a local prosecutor's office said on Telegram.

Ukrainian prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova said 410 civilian bodies were recovered from areas around Kyiv recently retaken from Russian forces, who have partially withdrawn from the region.

Ukrainian officials said Saturday nearly 300 bodies had been buried in mass graves in Bucha. AFP saw at least 20 bodies, all in civilian clothing, strewn across a single street in a scene that has drawn global shock.

Russia denied the accusations and said Ukraine staged footage of the corpses.

But Zelensky pointed the finger squarely at Moscow and said he has created a "special mechanism" to investigate Russian "crimes" in Ukraine.

"I want all the leaders of the Russian Federation to see how their orders are being fulfilled," Zelensky said in a video address late Sunday.

"There is a common responsibility. For these killings, for this torture, for arms blown off by blasts... For the shots in the back of the head," Zelensky added, switching from Ukrainian to Russian.

Bucha's mayor Anatoly Fedoruk told AFP that 280 bodies were buried in mass graves. One rescue official said 57 people were found in one hastily dug trench behind a church.

About 10 were either unburied or only partially covered by earth.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called it a "deliberate massacre", while Zelensky said Russian forces were committing "genocide".

His spokesman, Sergiy Nikiforov, said earlier the Bucha killing "looks exactly like war crimes".

"We found people with their hands and with their legs tied up... and with shots, bullet holes, in the back of their head," he told the BBC.

"They were clearly civilians and they were executed."

Workers in Bucha were seen Sunday using knives to cut free the bound wrists of dead victims, putting the corpses into body bags and loading them into a van.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the killings "a punch to the gut", while NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the violence -- unseen in Europe for decades -- was "horrific" and "absolutely unacceptable".

Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union all called for those responsible to be brought to book at the international tribunal in The Hague, while the EU vowed further sanctions against Moscow.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Russia's "despicable attacks" against civilians in Irpin and Bucha were "evidence that (President Vladimir) Putin and his army are committing war crimes in Ukraine".

UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply shocked" by images of mass graves in Bucha and called for an independent investigation.

But Russia's defence ministry said Sunday "not a single local resident" in Bucha suffered violence, accusing Ukraine of bombarding its southern suburbs and falsifying images of corpses in "another production" for Western media.

Despite Western action targeting oligarchs and businesses -- and calls to go further -- the Kremlin said it was impossible to isolate Russia entirely.

The world is "much larger than Europe", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state television, adding: "Sooner or later we will have to build a dialogue, whether some overseas want it or not."

- 'Tormented Ukraine' -

Europe's worst conflict in decades, sparked by Russia's invasion on February 24, has already left some 20,000 people dead, according to Ukrainian estimates.

Nearly 4.2 million Ukrainians have fled the country, with almost 40,000 pouring into neighbouring countries in the last 24 hours alone, the UN refugee agency said.

AFP journalists saw women, children and elderly people boarding a train at the station to flee the eastern city of Kramatorsk in the Donbas region as Moscow refocuses its offensive on southern and eastern Ukraine.

"The rumour is that something terrible is coming," said Svetlana, a volunteer organising the crowd on the station platform.

Pope Francis, on a visit to Malta Sunday, made a plea for refugees fleeing the "sacrilegious war" in "tormented Ukraine" to be welcomed.

Several Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have already accused Putin of being a war criminal.

Human Rights Watch said Russian troops may have committed possible war crimes against civilians in occupied areas of Chernigiv, Kharkiv and Kyiv, including rape and summary execution.

Zelensky has also alleged Russian soldiers planted mines and other booby traps as they withdrew from northern Ukraine, warning returning residents to be wary of tripwires and other dangers.

- Odessa hit -

As the barbarity near Kyiv drew global condemnation, Russia's attacks continued, with the strategic Black Sea port of Odessa hit by several airstrikes apparently targeting key infrastructure.

"We were woken up by the first explosion, then we saw a flash in the sky, then another, then another. I lost count," one local man, Mykola, 22, told AFP.

Russia's defence ministry said it targeted an oil refinery and three fuel storage facilities with "high-precision sea and air-based missiles".

The governor of the east Ukrainian town of Rubizhne said Russian forces fired on a local hospital, leaving one person dead, while officials said a Russian strike on Mykolaiv killed one and injured 14.

The attacks came as top UN humanitarian envoy Martin Griffiths arrived Sunday in Moscow before an expected visit to Kyiv to seek a halt to the fighting.

- Talks resume Monday -

On peace negotiations, Russia's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said it was too early for a top-level meeting between Zelensky and Putin.

He said Kyiv had become "more realistic" in its approach to issues related to the neutral and non-nuclear status of Ukraine, but a draft agreement for submission to a summit meeting was not ready.

Ukraine has proposed abandoning its aspirations to join NATO and declaring official neutrality, if it obtains security guarantees from Western countries.

It has proposed temporarily shelving the question of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and two breakaway territories in the Donbas that Russia has recognised as independent.

Medinsky said Russia's position on Crimea and the Donbas "remains unchanged" and that talks would resume by video conference Monday.

- 'Liberated' -

As Russian forces withdraw from some northern areas, Moscow appears to be focusing on eastern and southern Ukraine, where it already holds swathes of territory.

But it said Russia was struggling to find and destroy air systems, which has "significantly affected their ability to support the advance of their ground forces".

Ukraine claimed progress Saturday against Russian forces, saying Irpin, Bucha, Gostomel and the whole Kyiv region had been "liberated".

NATO's Stoltenberg, however, cautioned that Russia's claim to be pulling troops away from Kyiv was "not a withdrawal" but repositioning of troops.

burs-phz/mlm/to

W.O.Ludwig--NZN