Will the Atrocities in Bucha Be a Turning Point in the Russia-Ukraine War?

So far, the bodies of 410 civilians have been found by Ukrainian officials in towns in and around Kyiv.

Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Chetan Bhakuni/The Quint)

In a scathing speech at the United Nations on 5 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of a litany of horrors and atrocities and challenged the UN to act immediately or dissolve itself altogether.

This outrage comes in the aftermath of the alleged massacre in towns in and around Kyiv, where the bodies of 410 civilians were discovered. Russian and Ukrainian forces have been trading fire since 27 February in this region, which stopped only in early April.

The grimmest discoveries were made in the suburbs of Bucha, where more than 300 bodies were found – some with their hands bound, flesh burned, and shot in the back of the head.

These indiscriminate killings and atrocities have, of course, touched the global nerve and led to US President Biden calling for a war crimes trial. It also triggered the strongest reaction yet from India, which condemned the killings and called for an independent investigation into the "deeply disturbing" matter.

The summary killings of civilians add to the growing body of evidence of numerous violations by Russian forces of the laws of war, which begs the question: what will it take to bring the Bucha victims to justice?

In today's episode, we unpack what exactly had happened in Bucha, and India's strong reaction.

We speak to Nandan Unnikrishnan, a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, Saptarshi Basak from The Quint's International News Desk, and Vakasha Sachdev, The Quint's Legal Editor.