Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Russia "must answer to the world" after reports of Ukrainian civilians being tortured and killed in a city on the outskirts of Kyiv emerged on Monday.
Bodies with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture lay scattered in the city of Bucha after Russian soldiers withdrew from the area. Ukrainian authorities accused the departing forces on Sunday (local time) of committing war crimes and leaving behind a “scene from a horror movie".
Ukrainian officials said the bodies of 410 civilians were found in Kyiv-area towns that were recently retaken from Russian forces.
On Monday afternoon, Ardern joined leaders around the world in condemning Russia's actions.
"The reports of Ukrainian civilians who had been killed, raped and severely wounded by Russian troops is beyond reprehensible. Russia must answer to the world for what they've done.
"It goes without saying that these atrocities are against international law," the Prime Minister said and added New Zealand would join other nations in referring the situation to the International Criminal Court.
She stopped short of calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal, but the evidence pointed towards Russia committing war crimes.
The discoveries in Bucha followed the Russian retreat from the area after Moscow said it was focusing its offensive on the country’s east. Russian troops had rolled into Bucha in the early days of the invasion and stayed up until March 30.
One resident, who refused to give his name out of fear for his safety, said that Russian troops went building to building and took people out of the basements where they were hiding, checking their phones for any evidence of anti-Russian activity before taking them away or shooting them.
Hanna Herega, another resident, said Russian troops started shooting at a neighbour who had gone out to gather wood for heating.
“They hit him a bit above the heel, crushing the bone, and he fell down,” Herega said.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, described bodies lying in suburban streets as a “scene from a horror movie". He claimed some of the women had been raped before being killed and the Russians then burned the bodies.
In a video address, Zelensky said Russian soldiers who killed and tortured civilians were responsible for “concentrated evil".
“It is time to do everything possible to make the war crimes of the Russian military the last manifestation of such evil on earth,” he said in remarks translated by his office.
Ardern said New Zealand stood with its Ukrainian community and said 252 visas had been granted to those fleeing the war to join their family in New Zealand.
The Prime Minister said Cabinet had considered further measures it can take against Russia, and emphasised they wanted to send "a strong message" to the Kremlin.
She said the measures would be announced later this week.
- Additional reporting by The Associated Press
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