Shelling of Kharkiv resembles 1990s atrocities in Bosnia - UK PM Johnson

A view shows a courtyard of the regional administration building, which city officials said was hit by a missile attack, in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy

The shelling of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv by Russian forces is an atrocity reminiscent of the attacks on Sarajevo by the Serbs in the 1990s, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, adding such attacks were uniting the world against Russia.

Asked about the shelling of Kharkiv, Johnson said it was "absolutely sickening."

"It reminds me, if anything, if you remember the shelling of Sarajevo market by the Serbs, the shelling of innocent people in Bosnia, it has that feel to me of an atrocity committed deliberately against a civilian centre," Johnson said at a news conference in Estonia.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a joint press conference with Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (not pictured) at the Tapa Military Base, in Tallinn, Estonia March 1, 2022. Leon Neal/Pool via REUTERS

"I think people's stomachs are being turned by what's happening, and they're seeing it's necessary to stand up against Russian aggression (and) to support the Ukrainians."

(Reporting by William James, writing by Alistair Smout)