US President Joe Biden said on Monday that he wants a “war crimes trial” after the discovery of dead bodies lining the streets in Bucha, near Kyiv.
“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,” Biden said, adding that he wanted to see additional sanctions against Russia.
“What’s happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone sees it,” Biden said, while stopping short of calling it genocide.
The US president said again that he considered his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” and called him “brutal”.
The bodies of 410 civilians have been removed from Kyiv-area towns that were recently retaken from Russian forces, said Ukraine’s prosecutor-general, Iryna Venediktova.
Meanwhile, a Russian law enforcement agency says it has launched its own investigation into allegations that Ukrainian civilians were massacred in Bucha, focusing on what it calls “false information” about the actions of Russian forces.
The Investigative Committee claims Ukrainian authorities made the allegations “with the aim of discrediting Russian troops” and that those involved should be investigated over possible breaches of a new Russian law banning what the government deems to be false information about its forces.
Russian law enforcement has launched several investigations since Russian troops entered Ukraine, typically into incidents such as the shelling of areas held by Russia-backed separatists.