VILNIUS/KIEW (dpa-AFX) – Lithuania’s Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte traveled to Ukraine on Monday. “My visit to Ukraine started today in Borodyanka. No words can describe what I saw and felt here,” wrote the prime minister of the Baltic EU and NATO country on Twitter. In addition, Simonyte provided pictures showing her and her Ukrainian colleague Denys Schmyhal inspecting a destroyed residential building.
Schmyhal also published several pictures of the visit, which had not been announced in advance by the Lithuanian side, on the short message service. Russia must be punished for the “genocide” against Ukraine, wrote the Ukrainian head of government. He thanked Lithuania for joining the investigation into war crimes.
According to Ukrainian sources, Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, is one of the most severely damaged cities in the capital region. The government in Kyiv fears a high number of victims. The Ukrainian civil defense has been looking for survivors and victims there for the past week. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently said that it was “much more terrible” in Borodyanka than in Bucha.
The pictures from Bucha – another Kiev suburb – had caused international horror. Hundreds of bodies of former residents were found on the streets there after the withdrawal of Russian troops. Ukraine blames Russian troops for the massacre. Moscow denies that./awe/DP/men