GENEVA (dpa-AFX) – The United Nations wants its own human rights experts to investigate the killing of several hundred civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. This was announced by a spokeswoman for the UN human rights office in Geneva on Tuesday. A team of about 50 employees from the UN office is currently stationed in Uzhgorod in western Ukraine, about 800 kilometers from the capital Kyiv and the suburb of Bucha. A date was not mentioned. After the withdrawal of the Russian troops, at least 330 fatalities were discovered in the small town in the past few days.
In addition, an investigative commission made up of independent lawyers will deal with what is happening in Bucha, announced spokeswoman Liz Throssell. The body is to collect evidence of possible war crimes on behalf of the UN Human Rights Council. “It’s progressing on several levels,” Throssell said. The Ukrainian government had previously announced that it would work with the International Criminal Court, the Red Cross and the EU to solve crimes in Bucha and other cities.
Ukraine blames Russian occupying forces for the killings in Bucha. Moscow denies this and speaks – without presenting evidence – of a “staging”. The UN spokeswoman said: “Everything indicates that the victims were directly targeted and killed.” It is difficult to imagine that this happened in the context of military combat operations. “Under international law, the deliberate, targeted killing of civilians is a war crime.”/al/DP/nas
