European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today that Russian forces appear to have committed war crimes targeting civilians in Ukraine, but said lawyers should investigate reports of such incidents.
On her departure from Ukraine, she said she saw with her own eyes yesterday, Friday, the destruction of the city of Bucha near Kyiv. A forensic team began exhuming yesterday from a mass grave containing the bodies of civilians who, according to local officials, were killed during the Russian occupation of the city.
“My instinct tells me: If this is not a war crime, what is a war crime, but I have studied medicine and lawyers should investigate carefully,” Der Layen told reporters on the train as she left Ukraine.
“I saw the photos, (Ukrainian Prime Minister) Dennis Smigal showed them to me: Killing people as they walk. We were also able to see with our own eyes that the destruction in the city is aimed at human lives. Residential buildings are not a military target. “, she said, referring to Boutsa.
Moscow has denied allegations of war crimes by Ukraine and the West, and has denied that it is targeting civilians in what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “demilitarize” the neighboring country.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that allegations that Russian forces had executed civilians in Bhutan were “disgusting fabrications” aimed at discrediting the Russian military.
On Friday, the same day that von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visited Kyiv and its environs, Ukraine blamed Russia for a rocket attack that killed at least 52 people at the Kramatork railway station. in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said, according to the RIA news agency, that the missiles that were said to have hit the Kramatorsk station were used only by the Ukrainian army and that the Russian armed forces had no targets in Kramatorsk on Friday.
Von der Leyen said the EU was working with Ukraine on a joint investigation team to gather information on possible war crimes for future use in court cases.
“It’s extremely important [η υπόθεση] “It should be well documented to prevent defeats in court because the evidence will not be good enough,” von der Leyen said.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, said last month that an investigation had been launched into possible war crimes in Ukraine.
Source: Capital
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