Boris Johnson said The killings in Bucha aren't Far from Genocide

Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Image Credit: Andy Rain/EPA-EFE

While Russia continues to deny involvement, the UK leader's statement follows similar statements by his Spanish and Polish counterparts.

Scenes of dead Ukrainians tied up and left lying on the streets of Bucha don't "seem far short of genocide," according to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

"When you look at what's going on in Bucha, the discoveries that we're witnessing from Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine, which don't look far short of genocide to me," he told journalists during a visit to a hospital on Wednesday.

"I have no doubt that the international community will once again move in lockstep to inflict further sanctions and penalties on Vladimir Putin's government, with Britain at the forefront."

Authorities spotted roadways lined with citizens apparently tied up and shot at close range when Russian troops largely retreated from Bucha, a hamlet just a few dozen kilometers northwest of capital Kyiv, last week, as well as mass graves of local residents.

On Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he "would do all possible" to ensure "that those who have perpetrated these war crimes do not go unpunished and appear before the International Criminal Court" for charges of "war crimes and, why not say it, genocide."

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was even more forceful on Monday, claiming that "this is genocide and must be judged as such."

Russia has denied that its troops were responsible for the scenes, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying on Tuesday that Ukraine's actions were a "provocation" meant to disrupt ongoing talks. "In recent days, the propaganda machines of the West and Ukraine have worked solely to inflate hysteria," he claimed.

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