“The explanations given by Russia, that it was a set-up and that Russia was not responsible for these murders, is untenable from our point of view,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestrei told a news conference in Berlin. “Russian armed and security forces were deployed to this region on March 3,” the spokesman said.
“There is analysis of satellite images taken between March 10 and 18, 2022,” which “show that Bucha’s victims were lying on the ground since at least March 10. Reliable data shows that as of March 7 and up to 30 including Russian forces were present in the area,” he added.
“Targeted killings by Russian armed forces and security units are proof that the Russian president at least accepted these human rights violations and war crimes to achieve his goals,” Hebestreit continued.
The German head of government, Olaf Scholz, stated this Wednesday (04.06.2022) before the deputies that “Russia’s cynical claim that it is a set-up turns against those who spread these lies.” And he added: “The killing of civilians is a war crime, to put it bluntly. Their perpetrators or those who sent them must be held accountable.”
Dozens of civilian bodies were discovered last week in Bucha, on the outskirts of kyiv, after the departure of Russian troops, causing worldwide revulsion. The Kremlin has denied any responsibility for these deaths and claims that they are “fake” images.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said these were the “worst war crimes” committed since World War II, calling them “genocide.” From Spain, the Ukrainian refugee Veronika Pershyna assures that when she left Bucha on March 10, almost a month ago, “there were already a lot of dead people” in the streets of her city, although “not as much as now” when the Russians they abandoned
The German Parliament today expressed its condemnation “with the utmost severity” for the massacres of civilians committed in the Ukrainian town of Bucha and attributed to the Russian Army before its withdrawal from that population in the kyiv region.
“Everything indicates that war crimes have been committed,” said the president of the lower house (Bundestag), the Social Democrat Bäerbel Bas, opening the session, which included a debate focused on what happened in Bucha.
Bas compared the images released these days from that Ukrainian city with those that arrived at the time from the Bosnian city of Srebrenica, internationally recognized as genocide and war crimes.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, also unmitigatedly condemned what he described as “war crimes” against the civilian population, committed by the Russian troops before withdrawing, while reiterating his demands for a total clarification of what happened.
Scholz also urged the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to put an “immediate end to the attacks” on Ukraine, a country for which he ratified “all the support” by the German government.
rml (afp, efe)