So this is what denazification looks like. Bodies littered across the street, victims filling mass graves, destruction and grief congealing in a way only war can replicate. To Grozny, Chechnya and Aleppo, Syria, we can now add Bucha, Ukraine.
As today’s leader column expresses, as horrific as these crimes are, as shocking as the images emanating from Bucha, Mariupol, Kharkiv, Irpin and across the country, we cannot say we are surprised. This is what Vladimir Putin does. This is how he wages war.
And this is what we see when his forces withdraw. What further horrors will be uncovered in the east of Ukraine, where Russia holds swathes of territory? In other words, what crimes are being committed and how much human misery is being inflicted right now?
For just one person’s story, I’d urge you to watch this report from the outskirts of Kyiv. It’s four minutes long. If you are so fortunate, hug your loved ones after you do.
In terms of western reaction, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that more sanctions would be imposed on Russia while his defence minister has suggested the EU should consider banning imports of Russian gas, a move the country has thus far resisted.
Longer-term, the calls for war crimes investigations and prosecutions will only grow louder. I sensed a frisson of collective eye-rolling when, last month, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab visited the International Criminal Court in The Hague to offer “technical support in bringing those responsible for war crimes in Ukraine to justice”.
Perhaps because it came from Raab, a man who deadpanned from his deckchair in Crete that “the sea was closed“ as Kabul fell, who looks permanently panicked and pale on interview. But the scenes from Bucha, which have been widely condemned as war crimes, suggest he was simply ahead of the game.
Elsewhere in the paper, there’s the usual Easter travel chaos as easyJet cancels more than 200 flights with Eurotunnel delays thrown in for good measure.
In the comment pages, Harris Bokhari, co-founder of the Naz Legacy Foundation, celebrates the chance to break the Ramadan fast at the Tower of London after two years of lockdown-interrupted iftars. Meanwhile, Rob Rinder has been awarded an MBE, and he feels pretty good about it.
And finally, June Brown, best known for her portrayal of Dot Cotton in Eastenders, has died at the age of 95.
