‘Tortured, executed civilians’: Reaction to Ukraine war dead

Global reaction Monday to what appears to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine in areas north of Kyiv, the capital, where Russian soldiers have either retreated or been pushed back:

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“Hundreds of people killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Bodies on the streets. Boobytrapped area. Even the bodies of the dead are boobytrapped. Widespread aftermath of looting. Concentrated evil has visited our land. The killers, executioners, rapists, marauders who call themselves an army … The world has already seen many war crimes. At different times. On different continents. But it is time to do everything so that the war crimes of the Russian military become the last manifestation of such evil on earth.” — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video address.

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“The bloody massacres committed by the Russians, by the Russian soldiers, deserve to be called by their name. It is genocide and this crime must be tried as the crime of genocide … When we look at the terrible crimes against women, children and entire families, our scream should be even louder. Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, Motyzhyn: (these) are the names of the places that each of us will probably remember for the rest of our lives. The Russians committed the crime of genocide.” — Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

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“This information should be seriously doubted. From what we have seen, the video material can’t be trusted, as our specialists from the Defense Ministry detected signs of video forgery and various fakes. The facts, the chronology of events also doesn’t speak in favor of the credibility of these claims … We would require many world leaders not to rush with statements, groundless accusations.” — Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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“You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter is we saw what happened in Bucha. This warrants him … he is a war criminal. … We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight. And we have to gather all the detail, so this can be an actual, have a war crimes trial. This guy is brutal. And what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous.” — U.S. President Joe Biden talking to reporters.

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“We are all extremely shocked and we have condemned it with the utmost strength. Secondly, it is clear that there is clear evidence of war crimes. It was the Russian army that was in Bucha. We have told Ukrainian authorities that we were at their disposal to help with the investigation they’re carrying out. International justice must prevail. Those who committed these crimes will have to answer for them … What just happened in Bucha calls for a new round of sanctions and very clear measures” — French President Emmanuel Macron on France-Inter.

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“The reports of Ukrainian civilians who have been killed, raped and severely wounded by Russian troops is beyond reprehensible. Russia must answer to the world for what they’ve done.” — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

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“I hope that everything possible can be done so that those behind these war crimes don’t go unpunished, and that they can appear before the courts, in this case the International Criminal Court, to answer these alleged cases of crimes against humanity, war crimes and, why not say it, of genocide, too.” — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the “Wake Up, Spain” forum.

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“The atrocities committed by the Russian army in Ukraine are horrific, they are disgraceful and they are shameful. The reality is that the images from Bucha and Irpin are the same as other reports from other cities in Ukraine. They underlined the level of threat facing Ukraine and the global rules-based world order. In Kiev, I was clear. These are war crimes that are perpetrated by war criminals, and these coordinated acts of inhumanity cannot remain unanswered and that we will hold all those responsible to account.” European Union Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

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“Please, I am begging you, do something! … It’s me talking, a Ukrainian woman, a mother of two kids and one grandchild. For all the wives and mothers, make peace on Earth so no one ever grieves again. No one, neither Ukrainian, nor Russian, no one on the whole Earth. I want to live, everyone just wants to live.” — Tanya Nedashkivs’ka, 57, whose husband was killed by Russian troops on Monday, urging Ukraine and Russia to reach a peace agreement. She said her husband was detained by Russian troops in her neighborhood and that she found her husband’s body and two others in a stairwell leading to the basement of a nearby building.

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“I came closer and saw that his body was burnt. … They didn’t just shoot him, they also used that weapon (a flame thrower) which sends out fire. They burnt him down.” — Volodymyr Pilhutskyi, describing seeing the body of his neighbor, Pavlo Vlasenko, after Russian soldiers went to Vlasenko’s home and took him away. Pavlo Vlasenko, and his wife, Natalya, are now buried in a makeshift grave in Bucha.

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“This is scary, this is genocide, this is fascism. This is the extermination of people, innocent people, children, women and the elderly.” — Olena Kolesnik, a refugee from Kharkiv, Ukraine.

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“I was strongly shocked that a brutal act of violence was conducted on civilians in the outskirts of Kyiv. Murdering innocent civilians is a violation of international humanitarian law and it’s absolutely unacceptable.” — Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi at a government briefing.

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