Coveney warns that Russia ‘must be held to account
RUSSIA must be ‘held to account’ for mass graves found in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said yesterday.
He said that the site reportedly containing 450 bodies found in the Ukrainian city of Izyum showed that the mass grave he inspected in Bucha earlier this year was not an isolated incident.
‘I saw the mass graves myself. We are seeing, unfortunately, that Bucha was not an isolated incident’ he said. ‘Russia needs to be held to account’, he said after his one-day visit to Ukraine this week.
Mr Coveney hinted that Russia commanders may be facing war crimes charges, saying that the graves are a reminder to the international community about the need to ensure that international law is applied.
Ukrainian authorities found the mass burial site in recaptured territory in Izyum, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Thursday night. ‘A mass grave of people was found in Izium in the Kharkiv region. The necessary procedures have already begun there. More information – clear, verifiable information – should be available tomorrow,’ Mr Zelensky said in his nightly televised address.
He invoked the names of other Ukrainian cities where authorities said retreating Russian troops left behind mass civilian graves. ‘Bucha, Mariupol, now, unfortunately, Izyum. …Russia leaves death everywhere. And it must be held accountable for it. The world must bring Russia to real responsibility for this war,’ he said.
Mr Coveney told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland: ‘What President Zelensky said last night, and I think we will see a lot more evidence today, is a reminder of why Ireland and so many other countries have taken such an interest and involvement in Russian aggression in Ukraine.’
Amid the trees at the site were hundreds of graves with wooden crosses, most of them marked only with numbers. A larger grave bore a marker saying it contained the bodies of 17 Ukrainian soldiers. Oleg Kotenko, an official with the Ukrainian ministry, said videos that Russian soldiers posted on social media indicated there were likely more than 17 bodies in the mass grave. ‘We haven’t counted them yet, but I think there are more than 25 or even 30,’ he said.
Izyum resident Sergei Gorodko said that among the hundreds buried in individual graves were dozens of adults and children killed in a Russian air strike on an apartment building.