Ukraine: this massacre “will be recognized by the world as a genocide”, says Zelensky, from Boutcha

"Bodies with feet and hands cut off, women raped, that's what the occupier did..." From Boutcha, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced, on Monday, "war crimes".

"It will be recognized by the world as genocide," he said.

Several dozen bodies, most of them civilians, were found on the ground in this city during the withdrawal of Russian troops, sparking international outrage.

Dressed in a khaki coat and a bulletproof vest, surrounded by soldiers in the devastated streets of Boutcha, Volodymyr Zelensky observed with journalists the damage caused by the fighting: "Every day, when our fighters enter and resume territories, you see what's going on.

“These are war crimes and it will be recognized by the world as genocide,” he added, referring to “thousands of people killed and tortured, with extremities cut off, women raped, children killed” .

Moscow denies responsibility

Ukraine accuses the Russian army, which invaded the country, of having committed a “massacre” in Boutcha.

This small town northwest of kyiv was occupied by the Russian army on February 27, remaining inaccessible for more than a month.

Several corpses were discovered there, as the reporters from Le Parisien were able to see on the spot in Boutcha and in several towns around.

According to the mayor of Boutcha, Anatoly Fedorouk, nearly 300 people were buried in "mass graves" in Boutcha.

Moscow for its part denied having killed civilians in Boutcha, the Kremlin and the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov evoking “falsifications” and stagings for the press.

EU ready to send investigators

The European Union is ready to send teams of investigators to Ukraine to help collect evidence on war crimes of which Russian forces are accused in the kyiv region, the President of the European Commission announced on Monday.

“Perpetrators of these heinous crimes must not go unpunished.

The EU has set up a joint investigation team with Ukraine to collect evidence and investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said Ursula von der Leyen after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“The EU is ready to reinforce this effort by sending investigative teams on the ground to support Ukrainian prosecution services.

Eurojust (the EU's judicial cooperation agency) and Europol (the European criminal police agency) are ready to help,” she said in a statement.