Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States said Sunday that Ukraine has uncovered evidence of “war crimes of massive proportions” in the land that its forces have seized back from Russia in recent weeks.
“It’s so important for everyone to see the true face of this aggression,” Ambassador Oksana Markarova said.
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Markarova said there is ample evidence of Russian atrocities in territory that Ukrainian soldiers have liberated after months of Russian occupation.
Her statement echoed recent reporting from Ukraine: A mass burial site containing hundreds of bodies has been uncovered in Izyum, one of the newly liberated towns.
She added: “It’s tortures, rapes, killings, war crimes of massive proportions. That’s why we need to liberate the whole territory of Ukraine as soon as possible, because clearly Russians are targeting all Ukrainians. Whole families, children, so is there is no war logic in all of this. It’s imply terrorizing and committing genocide against Ukrainians.”
When asked by host Jonathan Karl whether Ukraine fears what Russian President Vladimir Putin might do next, Markarova said the world needs to seize the initiative from Putin and demonstrate that it will not tolerate this type of behavior.
“For all the years that Putin is in power,” she said, “they tried to scare the world and tried to get all of us thinking what he will do next. I think we should focus on what we together as democratic world should do.”
She added: “It means Russia has to lose from what they’ve done to us. It means we have to win.”
The foreign minister of the Czech Republic, current holder of the presidency of the Council of the European Union, called Sunday for a “special international tribunal” to investigate.
