US President Joe Biden on Monday labeled Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal and said he would seek a court case against him as global outcry grew over the killing of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
“This guy is brutal and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous,” Biden told reporters upon returning to Washington after a weekend in Delaware.
Biden also said he would seek further sanctions against Russia following the reported atrocities in Bucha, one of the cities surrounding the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where Ukrainian authorities say the bodies of civilians were found.
Biden’s comments came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the city and described Russian actions as “genocide.” Zelenskyy also called on the West to impose tougher sanctions on Russia.
However, Biden stopped calling the actions genocide.
The extent of the killings is still being pieced together, but Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said 410 civilian bodies have been recovered so far.
Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk told AFP that 280 bodies were buried in mass graves because it was impossible to bury them in cemeteries that were still within firing range of Russian forces.
The Kremlin categorically denied all allegations related to the killing of civilians, including in Bucha, where it said the graves and bodies were staged by Ukraine to pollute Russia.
Despite Russia’s denial of responsibility, sentencing was swift, with Western leaders, NATO and the UN all expressing horror at the images of dead bodies in Bucha and elsewhere.
European Union officials said Monday they were considering new sanctions against Moscow.
(Edited by Michelle Sagué, with reports from Reuters and AFP)