Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday Russia's leadership was responsible for civilian killings in Bucha, outside Kyiv, where bodies were found lying in the street after the town was retaken by Ukrainian forces.
He also vowed to investigate all Russian “crimes” in Ukraine, saying he had created a “special mechanism” to do so.
“I want all the leaders of the Russian Federation to see how their orders are being fulfilled. These kinds of orders. This kind of fulfilment. And there is a common responsibility. For these killings, for this torture, for arms blown off by blasts… For the shots in the back of the head,” Zelenskyy said, switching from Ukrainian to Russian, in a video address.
Global outrage has mounted after the discovery of mass graves and “executed” civilians in Bucha.
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Russia has denied killing civilians in Bucha, which it controlled since the first days of its invasion launched on February 24.
Bodies in the streets were discovered when Ukraine regained control.
Zelenskyy also said he had created a “special mechanism” to investigate Russian “crimes” in Ukraine, vowing to find and punish “everyone” responsible after evidence emerged of civilian killings in towns near Kyiv.
“I decided to create a special mechanism of justice in Ukraine to investigate and prosecute every crime of the occupiers in our country,” he said in a video address. He said this will include “national and international experts, investigators, prosecutors and judges.”
Zelenskyy vowed that “everyone guilty of such crimes will be entered in a special Book of Executioners, will be found and punished.”
Read more:
Ukraine says 410 bodies found near Kyiv, witnesses traumatized
Bodies in Bucha ‘raise serious questions about possible war crimes’: UN
Russia denies killing civilians in Ukraine's Bucha
