Ukraine fights not only for its freedom, but also for the freedom and territorial integrity of other states of Europe, said Ukraine’s Ambassador in Chisinau Marko Shevchenko. The diplomat noted there are clear proofs, including satellite images, showing that the massacre in Bucha was committed by Russian troops. According to the ambassador, for all the committed crimes, the aggressor state should be fully isolated from the whole international community, both economically and diplomatically, IPN reports.
Marko Shevchenko said Russian officials’ assertions that the images of Bucha were false are deceiving and represent propaganda. The reaction comes after the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the massacre in Bucha was a “false attack” that was planned by Ukraine and the West and that is intensely disseminated on social media.
“There is no doubt that these are war crimes, crimes against humanity and the Russian troops are responsible for all them. The Ukrainian side already published the names of the Russian soldiers who stayed in the area during those days. A company that collects satellite images all over Ukraine today published information about the first mass graves where the victims were buried. The images date from March 10. That’s why I do not have any doubt as to who did it and who should be punished. Such crimes are already known and they were committed by Russians during the war in Chechnya as well,” Ambassador Marko Shevchenko stated in the talk show “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
The diplomat noted the Ukrainian army’s resistance thwarted Moscow’s plans to gain political control over Kyiv during 48 hours. As their plans failed, the Russians decided to exterminate the people of Ukraine.
“The war develops not according to the Russian Federation’s plans. The Russian senior administration expected the people in Ukraine will meet the Russian soldiers with flowers, but it didn’t happen so and the Kremlin administration realized that things stand differently. Therefore, they changed the tactic and switched over to the annihilation strategy – the annihilation of cities in which most of the citizens speak Russian. Mariupol and Kharkiv are regions where the Russian-speaking citizens represent almost 100%. Ukraine fights not only for its freedom, but also for the freedom of other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Regrettably, we are living moments when no kinds of legal or political guarantees have a value for an aggressor state as only the military force has a value for the Russian Federation,” said the diplomat, noting Russia should be isolated economically from the whole Europe and the Russian planes and ships should be banned from entering the European airspace and ports around Europe.
Ukraine’s president said Monday in a video address to Romanian lawmakers that what happened in the Ukrainian city of Bucha is a “war crime”. In the city, located near the capital Kyiv, cars were crushed by tanks and people were tortured, even though there is not all the evidence yet, noted Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He said that if the Ukrainian army and people hadn’t defended themselves, Russian forces would have carried out massacres all over Ukraine just like they did in Bucha.
