Kyiv: As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters the second month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday visited sites Russians allegedly carried out war crimes in Ukraine, decrying war as “an absurdity in the 21st century” and urging Russia to cooperate with an international investigation into atrocities.
Making his first visit to Ukraine since Russia launched a full-scale invasion on February 24, Guterres toured several towns and villages outside Kyiv where Russian forces are accused of killing civilians.
“I imagine my family in one of those houses that is now destroyed and black. I see my granddaughters running away in panic,” the UN chief said in Borodianka.
“The war is an absurdity in the 21st century. The war is evil,” he added.
In neighbouring Bucha, where dozens of bodies in civilian clothes, some with their hands tied behind their backs, were discovered this month after a Russian withdrawal, Guterres backed an International Criminal Court investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine.
“I appeal to the Russian Federation to accept, to cooperate with the ICC,” he implored the Kremlin.
The UN head will later meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. On Tuesday, he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, repeating calls for both Moscow and Kyiv to work together to set up “safe and effective” humanitarian corridors in war-torn Ukraine.
A UN representative to Ukraine said Thursday she was preparing for a “hopeful” evacuation from the encircled port city in south-eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv says civilians and injured fighters are trapped.
“The UN is fully mobilised to help save Ukrainian lives and to assist those in need,” UN in Ukraine Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator Osnat Lubrani wrote on Twitter.