war
5 Apr 2022

Alleged Russian war crimes difficult to prosecute - expert

From Morning Report, 7:20 am on 5 April 2022

Western outrage is intensifying over shocking reports of civilian executions by Russian troops in Ukraine.

Ukranian officials are in the process of recovering hundreds of bodies of civilians they say were raped, tortured, and then slaughtered, on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv.

One of those towns is Bucha, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited today, wearing body armour and surrounded by military personnel.

He's again praised the efforts of those defending the country, and says the abuses in Bucha equate to Genocide.

EU leaders are denoucing Russia's actions as "massacres, atrocities, genocides", while US President Joe Biden is calling for a war crimes trial.

The latest attempt by the Red Cross to evacuate civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol has once again been thwarted.

Several aid workers from the organisation are being held by police, as tens of thousnads of people remain trapped in the city.

President Volodomyr Zelenskyy says he's also assembling his own team of international judges to investigate the alleged war crimes.

King's College London lecturer Dr Maria Varaki, who is also co-director of the War Crimes Research Group, spoke to Corin Dann.