Fri 16 September 2022:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that Russia was behaving “horrifically” and was likely responsible for war crimes after the discovery of mass graves in Ukraine.
“This is part, horrifically, of a continuing and ongoing story whenever we see the Russian tide recede from the parts of Ukraine that it’s occupied. We see what’s left in its wake,” Blinken told reporters.
Evidence of war crimes
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said there is evidence that Russian forces committed torture and killed civilians in parts of the country’s northeast prior to withdrawing from the territories, likening the aftermath there to the one seen following Russia’s pullback from near Kyiv months ago.
In an interview at his office, Zelenskyy told the Reuters news agency an investigation was under way with international assistance and that there was clear evidence of Russian war crimes in the areas retaken by Ukrainian troops during a multipronged counteroffensive.
“As of today, there are 450 dead people, buried,” he said, in an apparent reference to a reported mass grave in Izyum.
“But there are others, separate burials of many people. Tortured people. Entire families in certain territories,” Zelenskyy added.
‘To end aggression’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that concerns on Ukraine heard by Putin at a summit from Chinese and Indian leaders put pressure on him to end the war.
“I think what you’re hearing from China, from India, is reflective of concerns around the world about the effects of Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, not just on the people of Ukraine,” Blinken told reporters.
“I think it increases the pressure on Russia to end the aggression.”
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
