President Biden calls for Vladimir Putin to be held accountable after mass graves are discovered in Ukraine

A warning to our viewers, the video attached to this article shows video of bodies on the street and details allegations of war crimes.

Russian troops occupied the suburban community of Bucha, located just northwest of the capital Kyiv. When the Russian invaders were eventually driven away by Ukrainian resistance, a scene of utter destruction and inhumane acts of violence was left behind.

Images obtained by CNN and Reuters show the lifeless bodies of what appears to be civilians across a city street. Their bodies were frozen in time at the moment their life was cut short. One person still on their bike, another holding their groceries. Many appear to have their hands tied behind their backs with gunshot wounds at close range.

Mass graves were made in the middle of a field leaving little to the imagination as to what lies beneath the mud. Limbs and in some cases faces can be seen, exposed to the open. Some in the town believe there could be hundreds of people buried.

The mayor of Bucha says the carnage will live in the minds of his people forever, “that’s what Russia’s all about, and we shall never forgive them they will never be forgiven on this earth or in heaven.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky left Kyiv, for his first reported trip since the war began nearly six weeks ago to see for himself what he called the ‘genocide’ and ‘war crimes.’

The horrific scenes are renewing talks of even harsher sanctions against the Russian people and now war crime accusations against Russian president Vladimir Putin.

When the scenes at Bucha became known, prime minister Trudeau had this to say on Twitter yesterday. “We strongly condemn the murder of civilians in Ukraine, remain committed to holding the Russian regime accountable, and will continue to do everything we can to support the people of Ukraine. those responsible for these egregious and appalling attacks will be brought to justice.”

The UK foreign secretary says nothing is off the table in terms of sanctions. “Well, we’re all appalled by the scenes in Bucha, the butchery, the clear evidence of sexual crime, the targeting of innocent civilians, and it’s very clear that war crimes have taken place. And we have been working with the ICC [international criminal court], we’re putting funding in, we’ve got the metropolitan police investigating those war crimes so the perpetrators can be brought to justice. Now as to the question of genocide.”

Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, during a tv interview, just two kilometres from Bucha, says what he’s seen is no doubt genocide. “Immediate international mission to study and record the facts of genocide. Ask the United Nations general secretary to send a fact-finding mission to strengthening sanctions against Putin against Russia, because it’s not only Putin. This is Russian soldiers doing this massacre here against us in Ukraine.”

Human Rights Watch says, while unbelievably tragic, what’s happening right now isn’t genocide. “If you execute a person, if you torture a prisoner, that’s a clear war crime. And so is targeting civilians at a time of war, or firing indiscriminately and in a civilian area, other things that Russian forces have been doing is a war crimes is serious enough. We really shouldn’t be diminishing this. You do see some people in a sense, inflating language, saying ‘this is genocide.’ We haven’t seen genocide. Genocide involves the intention to eradicate all or in part an ethnic-national group.”

Russia dismissed the scenes as a ‘stage-managed anti-Russian provocation.’ The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected allegations of atrocities as fakery on Ukraine’s part.

The U.S. State Department says they’re supporting a multi-national team of international prosecutors going to the region of Bucha to collect, preserve and analyze evidence, at the request of Ukrainian officials. The aim is to pursue criminal accountability against Russia, a spokesperson for the State Department said.