The actions of the Russian army in peaceful cities of the Kyiv region will be recognized by the world community as genocide of the Ukrainian people, President Volodymyr Zelensky believes.
"This is a war crime and it will be recognized by the world as genocide. What you are here today and see what happened - we know thousands of people killed and tortured, with severed limbs, raped women, murdered children - I think this is genocide," Zelensky told reporters during his trip to Bucha.
He thanked journalists from international publications who joined him on the trip.
"We really want you to show the world what was happening here, what the Russian military was doing, what the Russian Federation was doing in peaceful Ukraine," the president stressed.
Zelensky also expressed confidence that all war criminals involved in killing and mocking civilians in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories will be brought to justice.
"I think you and I cannot even consider the possibility that something will not be enough for Europe or the world this time, not enough to punish the criminals. I'm not considering that option, we're not going to give one percent of that. This is not a situation with one alliance or another right now, this is about lives and about people being killed, tortured. There's a million pieces of evidence. So all these stories about let's wait, there's going to be a trial, it's going to be very slow - we're going to push as publicly as we can. We're not going to make any pause in finding all the criminals. And you know it's basically to the benefit, I think, of civilization, because if we don't find a civilized way out, you know our people: they will find an uncivilized one," the head of state said.
