United States President Joe Biden has called for a war crimes trial against Russia President Vladimir Putin and says he’ll seek more sanctions after reported atrocities in Ukraine.
“You saw what happened in Bucha,” Biden told reporters on Monday (US time). He added that Putin “is a war criminal”.
United States President Joe Biden. Credit:AP
Biden’s comments come after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Bucha, one of the towns surrounding Kyiv where Ukrainian officials say the bodies of civilians have been found. Zelensky called the Russian actions “genocide” and called for the West to apply tougher sanctions against Russia.
“We do not believe that this is just a random accident, or the rogue act of a particular individual,” said US national security adviser Jake Sullivan of the images of bound civilians killed. He noted the US had warned that Russia would seek to imprison or kill dissidents or others it viewed as threats to its attempted occupation of Ukraine.
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“We believe that this was part of the plan,” he added.
Biden and US officials, however, stopped short of calling the actions genocide.
“We have seen atrocities, we have seen war crimes. We have not yet seen a level of systematic deprivation of life of the Ukrainian people to rise to the level of genocide,” Sullivan said.
The bodies of 410 civilians have been removed from Kyiv-area towns that were recently retaken from Russian forces, Ukraine’s prosecutor-general, Iryna Venediktova, said. Associated Press journalists saw the bodies of at least 21 people in various spots around Bucha, north west of the capital.
“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 … war crimes trial,” Biden said.
Biden labelled Putin “brutal”.
“What’s happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone sees it.”
AP
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