Today, Saturday, the presidency of the European Union called for the establishment of an international court after the discovery of mass graves in eastern Ukraine, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the victims were tortured by Russian forces.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, tweeted: "In the 21st century, such heinous attacks on the civilian population are unimaginable."
He added, "We must not ignore it. We demand the punishment of all war criminals. I call for the establishment of a special international court as soon as possible to prosecute the crime of aggression."
"Russia, its political leaders and all those involved in the continuing violations of international law and international humanitarian law in Ukraine will be held accountable," said Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, in a statement on Friday.
Before announcing the discovery of mass graves, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called - on Thursday - for the appearance of Russian President Vladimir Putin before the international judiciary for committing "war crimes".
The exhumation of the bodies continues from the mass graves near the city of Izyum (Reuters)
torture evidence
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday, "We have obtained new evidence showing torture of people buried in mass graves in Izyum."
Yesterday, Friday, Zelensky denounced - in a video broadcast on the communication sites - the crimes of an army of "killers and executioners", after announcing the discovery of 450 bodies of civilians buried in a forest on the outskirts of the city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region (northeast), after they were recovered from Russian forces.
"The world must act on all this. Russia repeated in Izyum what it did in Bucha," Zelensky said, praising the United Nations' announcement of sending a team to participate in the Ukraine investigation.
National Police Director Igor Klimenko reported that 10 "torture rooms" had been found in the towns recaptured from the Russians in the Kharkiv region, including 6 in Izyum.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office also confirmed that some of the bodies recovered from mass graves showed signs of torture.