Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested on Tuesday that meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin for negotiations “might not happen” after he accused Putin of genocide following Zelensky’s visit to Bucha.
Zelensky shared the remarks during a video broadcast on Ukrainian television on Tuesday.
“And in this meeting, we could find the way out of this situation, without losing our territory. I think that this is the bar we have to set for these negotiations. And then we will see. It might happen that there will be no negotiations. It might happen,” he said.
The strong words came following Zelensky’s trip to the Kyiv suburb of Bucha on Monday that included the Ukrainian president weeping over numerous bodies and mass graves in the community.
“I’ve visited our cities in the Kyiv region, which we liberated from the occupiers: Stoyanka, Irpin, Bucha,” Zelensky also said. “Of course, now this area does not look like yesterday. The bodies of killed people, killed Ukrainians have already been taken from most streets. But in the yards, in the houses, the dead still remain.”
Zelensky also addressed the issue of investigating for evidence of genocide in the case against Putin and Russia’s armed forces.
“We have just begun an investigation into all that the occupiers have done. At present, there is information about more than three hundred people killed and tortured in Bucha alone. It is likely that the list of victims will be much larger when the whole city is checked. And this is only one city. One of the many Ukrainian communities that the Russian military managed to seize,” he added.
The Ukrainian president also made a comparison between the atrocities he witnessed and the damages during the Holocaust.
“In many villages of the liberated districts of the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the occupiers did things that the locals had not seen even during the Nazi occupation 80 years ago. The occupiers will definitely bear responsibility for this,” he said.
Zelensky warned that Russia would be the nation to suffer if its leaders refuse to negotiate peace.
“If the Russian leadership does not begin to really seek peace, really negotiate peace, they will put their country in the worst condition in 50 years. The so-called wicked 90’s will seem prosperous and calm,” he said near his conclusion.
The Ukrainian president ended his address with notice of awarding 152 of the nation’s military members a state award as Ukrainian heroes, including three posthumously.
On Monday, President Joe Biden called for Putin to be tried for war crimes following reports of civilian killings in Bucha. The Daily Wire reported:
“One comment to make before I start the day,” Biden told reporters. “You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter, you saw what happened in Bucha. This warrants — he is a war criminal. But we have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue to fight, and we have to gather all the details so this can be an actual, have a war crime trial.”
“This guy is brutal, and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone’s seen it,” Biden continued, before saying that he will be seeking further sanctions in response.