The UK Prime Minister has stated that the actions of invading Russian forces in Ukraine appear close to "genocide". Boris Johnson was talking following an international wave of revulsion over reported atrocities committed by Russian forces in Bucha and other towns around Kyiv.
The towns have been recaptured by the Ukrainians as the Russians pull back. Ukrainian officials have reported that they found the bodies of at least 410 civilians, some reported shot with their hands tied behind their backs.
There have also been reports of women being raped by Russian soldiers in front of their children.
Speaking during a visit to a hospital in Welwyn Garden City, Mr Johnson said: “I’m afraid, when you look at what’s happening in Bucha, the revelations that we are seeing from what Putin has done in Ukraine, which doesn’t look far short of genocide to me, it is no wonder people are responding in the way that they are.”
Western officials warned such atrocities may be “widespread” pointing to the “toxic information climate” in Russia with calls for the “de-nazification” of Ukraine, with former president Dmitri Medvedev - still a close ally of Mr Putin - likening it to the Third Reich.
“When you combine that with a force which is failing and failing badly in an operation for which it was perhaps psychologically underprepared, it just a toxic mix,” one official said.
“The responsibility for this lies with the perpetrators of the acts but it also lies with the Russian leadership. Not only did they order the invasion, they set the tone and the context for this operation as well.”
