The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited to the Kyiv suburbs of Borodyanka, Bucha, and Irpin comes nine weeks since the Russian invasion began. Mr. Guterres urged Russia “to accept to cooperate” with the ongoing investigation launched by the International Criminal Court, the ICC.
During a visit to Borodyanka, Guterres described war as “evil” and “absurd.”
“When we see this horrendous site, it makes me feel how important it is [to have] a thorough investigation and accountability,” Mr. Guterres said, speaking from Bucha, where disturbing images of dead civilians lying in the street sparked worldwide outrage earlier this month.
He added: “I fully support the International Criminal Court and I appeal to the Russian Federation to accept to cooperate with the International Criminal Court.”
Guterres also asked Russia to assist the International Criminal Court (ICC) on investigations into suspected war crimes committed during its invasion of Ukraine during a subsequent visit to Bucha.
Surveying destroyed buildings in Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, the Secretary-General also called the war “an absurdity”.
“I must say what I feel. I imagined my family in one of those houses that is now destroyed and black,” he said. “I see my granddaughters running away in panic, part of the family eventually killed. So, the war is an absurdity in the 21st century. The war is evil.”
In Irpin, where Mr. Guterres visited the destroyed Irpinsky Lipki residential complex, he said that the “horrific scenario demonstrates something that is, unfortunately, always true: civilians always pay the highest price”.
Earlier this month, UN rights chief, Michelle Bachelet said that she had been “horrified” by images showing the bodies of dead civilians lying in the streets of Bucha, and in improvised graves.
“Reports emerging from this and other areas, raise serious and disturbing questions about possible war crimes as well as grave breaches of international humanitarian law and serious violations of international human rights law,” the High Commissioner said in a statement.
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