On Saturday, April 2, Russian forces retreated from territories captured early on in the war with Ukraine and left behind horrifying scenes of dead civilians and mass graves. Ukrainian troops made the discovery as they moved to reclaim the territory.
One of these territories was Bucha, a suburban neighborhood northwest from Kyiv. Bucha’s mayor Anatoly Fedoruk confirmed the next day that around 270 local residents were buried in two mass graves and around 40 were found dead in the streets. He cautioned people coming to investigate that officials are concerned that Russian troops allegedly attached explosives to the bodies before they retreated.
On Sunday, April 3, Ukrainian officials requested that the International Criminal Court (ICC) visit Bucha so that experts could gather evidence of alleged Russian war crimes. Many countries have condemned the alleged actions and called for investigations and accountability; however, Russia’s Defense Ministry questioned the authenticity of some of the released photographs from Bucha. Britain also called for a probe into the attack and confirmed that it would support any investigations launched by the ICC.
War crimes refer to violations of international law governing conduct during wartime and combat, and they are enumerated in the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute, which was created by the ICC in 2002 to prosecute those responsible for war crimes and human rights abuses. War crimes include purposefully targeting civilians, attacking hospitals, schools or other important civilian sites and using chemical weapons.
The same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack a genocide. “We are the citizens of Ukraine; we have more than 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities,” he stated.
World leaders have issued denunciations with U.S. President Joe Biden calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” and that he is seeking further sanctions against Russia. On the other hand, European Union (EU) leaders are debating about committing to an embargo on Russian oil and gas. As the U.S. and Britain cut energy imports, the EU held out due to its extensive dependency on Russia for energy.
Nevertheless, French President Emmanuel Macron echoed Biden’s sentiments, saying that there are “indications” of war crimes in Bucha and calling for new sanctions against Russia to prevent similar actions in other parts of Ukraine. In France, the debate about imposing energy sanctions comes about a week before the first round of the presidential election with Macron facing off against far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
Similar discussions are taking place in Germany, who is even more dependent on Russian energy imports than France. Some are calling for an immediate embargo while others argue that this course of action is unrealistic. Regardless of the intensity of the sanctions, Europe’s economies will be deeply affected.
Currently, intense fighting continues in the east and south of Ukraine with no clear resolution in sight for the conflict. Western analysts are trying to figure out why Russian forces retreated in the first place and predict what Putin’s next move could be. Meanwhile, Zelensky continues to appeal to his Western allies for more aid to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine as civilians are forced to flee their homes. Even though cease-fire discussions continue, Ukraine has doubts about Russia’s sincerity in the matter.
