EDITORIAL - War crimes to make talking about peace even harder

Now that Ukrainians are winning back territory once occupied by invading forces, they are coming across atrocities allegedly committed by disgruntled Russian troops or their allies.

One village, Bucha, is now the focus of worldwide attention after many residents were found killed execution-style; with their hands bound and with a single bullet wound to the back of the head.

Those whose bodies were found may actually be the lucky ones; many people who lived in that village are still missing and probably lying in some of the mass graves there.

There are other incidents too gruesome to write about here. Suffice it to say what witnesses said some Russian troops or their allies committed against some Ukrainians, particularly the women, was the kind of butchery and barbarity we thought we had left behind in the 20th century.

Sadly, the Ukrainians say Bucha may just be one village among many where non-combatants and civilians were murdered by Russian troops or their allies, perhaps angered that Ukrainians dared fight against their invasion.

The EU and the US are now calling for a war crimes investigation into the incident. On the other hand, Russia has also been quick to call for an investigation, but what they want proven is that the alleged atrocities were actually staged or faked.

It was not the first time Russia said violence attributed to them was faked or that they were not responsible for it.

They already denied attacking with missiles that theater in Mariupol where children were taking refuge, instead insisting that a Ukrainian hardliner entered the theater and caused the explosion from inside to frame Russia for the attack.

Let’s give Russia the benefit of the doubt for a second, we don’t have boots on the ground. We can’t see for ourselves the mass graves, the bodies lying in the streets, or that bombed-out theater with children. We are only taking the word of a TV news network and witnesses that atrocities were committed.

But what country would willingly martyr its own citizens just to make another nation look bad? Would a county whose future is already in jeopardy go to that length? It doesn’t make sense for the Ukrainians to sacrifice their own citizens when they are already being slaughtered. It would make better sense for a nation under siege to keep its citizens alive, not kill them like what the Russians and their allies are already doing.

Killing combatants in the field of battle is one thing, but spilling the blood of the innocent is another. There is no doubt that these killings will have a negative impact on whatever peace talks between Ukraine and Russia were in the works.

Ukraine cannot be blamed if they are now filled with a bitter resolve to settle this dispute on their own terms and conditions, and not Russia’s.