Mass grave of 400 Ukrainian victims dug up at Bucha as war crimes probe slams Russian atrocities
UKRAINE began the grim task of digging up a mass grave yesterday where at least 400 victims of Russian atrocities are thought to be buried.
A JCB digger helped workers in Bucha haul bodies from the mud as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian forces of “inhuman cruelty” to civilians.
A report by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe — which counts Russia as a member — said there were “clear patterns” of Russian war crimes including torture, rape and murder.
It came as officials revealed at least 25 females, including a girl of 14, had been raped by occupying forces.
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan said that Ukraine was now a crime scene.
And US President Joe Biden has, for the first time, accused Russia of a genocide. “Yes, I called it genocide,” he said.
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He continued: “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be a Ukrainian.”
Kremlin denials rang hollow as panel of OSCE experts said they had found credible evidence of Russian war crimes.
They accused Russian forces of deliberately blitzing hospitals, including a mother and baby unit in the port city of Mariupol and found proof of forced deportations to Russia and failure to open humanitarian corridors
Its preliminary report said: “Russian forces have engaged in a widespread and systematic pattern of damage to Ukrainian healthcare facilities by indiscriminate bombardment and in some cases intentional targeting.
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“Intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected is a war crime.”
The Foreign Office said Russia faced “mounting evidence of atrocities”, including sexual violence, committed by its forces.
It said: “Those responsible must be held to account.”
The OSCE report also found violations “occurred on the Ukrainian side”. But it said: “The violations committed by the Russian Federation are by far larger in scale and nature.”
Ukrainian officials said more than 700 people have been killed in Kyiv’s suburbs and at least 200 were still missing after Russian troops retreated.
They warned the tolls would rise as rescuers sifted through the rubble and survivors gave evidence.
In the southern village of Pravdyne, Russian troops were accused of shooting six men and one woman before blowing up their home to try to hide the evidence yesterday.
It comes amid fears that Russian forces are set to unleash a second slaughter, with a major new offensive in the east.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned peace talks had now “reached a dead end”.
Officials said Russia was ready to launch attacks on Donetsk and the neighbouring Zaporizhia region, where refugees have fled from the bloodbath of Mariupol.
If Mariupol falls it could free up Russian forces for a second assault.
However, the US has announced it was sending an extra $800million of weapons, including artillery guns and helicopters, to counter it.
In northern Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, Russians ramped up artillery bombardments on front-line flats in the Saltivka district.
At least seven people were said to have died and 22 wounded in the wider Kharkiv province over the previous 24 hours.
President Zelensky fears an “endless bloodbath” unless the West sends heavy weapons.
He said: “We need heavy artillery, air defence systems and combat aircraft. Anything to repel Russian forces.”
The presidents of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania travelled to Kyiv yesterday in a show of support for Ukraine’s leader.
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But he snubbed German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for cosying up to Russia.
- NATO should double its troops on the Russian border to block potential invasion, Estonia’s permanent defence secretary Kusti Salm has said.
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