Top European diplomats have visited Ukraine to mark the anniversary of atrocities committed in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, by Russia’s invading forces four years ago.
A group of 12 European Foreign Ministers, as well as numerous lower-ranking officials, arrived by train in the Ukrainian capital where they were welcomed by Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, who noted the “grim anniversary” of the shocking atrocities in Bucha.
Russian troops quickly occupied Bucha after invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. They stayed for about a month. When Ukrainian troops retook the town, they found more than 400 bodies left by Russia’s cleansing operation.
Sybiha said in a post on X that such a strong European presence in Ukraine on this day demonstrates “that justice for this and other Russian atrocities is inevitable,” adding, “Comprehensive accountability for Russian crimes is vital to restore justice in Europe.”
“The scale of Russian atrocities in the course of its aggression is unseen on European soil since WWII. The crime of aggression is the root cause of them all. There must be accountability and there will be no amnesty for Russian criminals, including the highest political and military leadership of the Russian Federation.”
Andrii Sybiha
He drew a comparison with the Nuremberg trials against leaders of defeated Nazi Germany, saying that the new tribunal was needed to “prevent such horrible crimes from repeating again in the future.”
On the way to Kyiv, European Union Foreign Policy Chief, Kaja Kallas underlined the importance of ensuring that those who gave the orders to kill in places like Bucha are held to account, as much as those who carried the atrocities out.
“One of the things that is really necessary is accountability. Otherwise, you have revenge and retaliation. If you don’t see people doing this to your family held accountable, you will want revenge.”
Kaja Kallas
The EU top diplomat said in a post on X that the Bucha massacre “has come to symbolise the cruelty of Russia’s war” against Ukraine as she vowed to bring Russia into account for its actions during the conflict. “Four years after these mass killings, we remember the victims. What happened here cannot be denied,” she stressed.
She added that the EU was “committed to ensuring that these crimes do not go unpunished, including by supporting the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression, alongside the Claims Commission.” She iterated, “Russia must be held accountable for what it has done to Ukraine.”
Kallas Reasserts EU Support For Ukraine
Moreover, Kallas said the bloc “will keep providing military, financial, energy, and humanitarian support” to Ukraine.
Part of today’s meeting between the EU officials and their Ukrainian counterparts was to focus on reassuring Kyiv of continued European efforts to hold Russia to account for its invasion.
With US-led efforts to end the war on hold and Washington’s attention gripped by the conflict in the Middle East, European governments are keen to keep a spotlight on the continent’s biggest land war in decades, now in its fifth year.
The Iran war is currently a top priority for the United States and risks diverting resources that Kyiv needs, such as air defense systems, while providing Russia with windfall profits through high energy prices.
“We can’t let it (the Ukraine war) slip off the table. We are the ones who have to keep this up because nobody else does.”
Kaja Kallas
U.S.-mediated negotiations to end the war are going nowhere, and it’s unclear when they might resume after being put on ice while the Middle East conflict unfolds. “The talks are stalled,” Kallas said.
However, no progress is expected to be made on thorny issues of the EU’s €90bn loan to Hungary and the 20th package of sanctions against Russia, both of which continue to be blocked by Hungary.
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