images of civilians executed in Boutcha revive the debate on a Russian gas embargo

The body of a civilian lies in a gas station along the E40 highway between Kyiv and Zhytomyr, not far from where a Russian army position was, on April 2, 2022. CHLOÉ SHARROCK/MYOP FOR “THE WORLD”

“The photos of civilians murdered by Russian soldiers in Irpin and Boutcha are reminiscent of the mass murders of the Soviet and Nazi regimes. » The words of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on Sunday 3 April give an idea of ​​the scale of the reactions aroused by the discovery of the bodies of executed civilians lying in the streets of towns around kyiv from which the forces deployed by Vladimir Putin. These acts are “clearly war crimes”, said the leader of this Baltic state, while calling for new European sanctions and additional arms deliveries to Ukraine.

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The outrage caused by these atrocities is widely shared. “The images that reach us from Boutcha are unbearabletweeted Emmanuel Macron. The Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes. » The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, denounced “terrible and horrible images” and called for international organizations to have access to the region to “document these atrocities”. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said “deeply shocked by the images of civilians killed in Boutcha”, and the United Nations human rights office has spoken of “possible war crimes”. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke of a “punched in the stomach”.

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Russia, on the other hand, denied any responsibility and claimed that the images of corpses were “a new production of the kyiv regime for the Western media”. Moscow is even asking for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to decide on the “hateful provocations” committed according to her by “Ukrainian radicals” in Boutcha.

“More aid” to Ukraine

Will these acts encourage the West to strengthen their commitment in support of Ukraine against Russia? The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, who denounces the “genocide” perpetrated by his attacker in his country, once again pleaded in this direction during the weekend. His Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, demanded in a tweet from “devastating new G7 sanctions NOW”.

Without waiting, Olaf Scholz made it clear that additional sanctions were going to be taken: “We will decide on new measures between allies in the coming days, he assured in a short statement to the chancellery. President Putin and his supporters will suffer the consequences,” he added. “More EU sanctions and aid are on the way”, tweeted the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.

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