UN Secretary General António Guterres stated the importance of a thorough investigation into the killings in Bucha, Kyiv region, bringing the perpetrators to justice, and called on the Russian side to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in this case.
"When we see this horrendous site, it makes me feel how important it is [to have] a thorough investigation and accountability... I fully support the International Criminal Court and I appeal to the Russian Federation to accept to cooperate with the International Criminal Court," Guterres told journalists in Bucha in Thursday.
At the same time, he said "when we talk about war crimes, we cannot forget that the worst of crimes is war itself."
During a visit to the destroyed Irpinski Lypki residential complex in the neighboring town of Irpin, the UN Secretary General said "civilians always pay the highest price." "Innocent civilians were living in these buildings. They were paying the highest price for a war for which they had not contributed at all. And this is something everybody should remember, everywherein the world. Wherever there is a war, the highest price is paid by civilians," Guterres said.
He also visited the town of Borodianka, Buchansky district, Kyiv region, and said that he "imagined my family in one of those houses that is now destroyed and black."
"The war is an absurdity in the 21st century. The war is evil. And when one sees these situations our heart, of course, stays with the victims. Our condolences to their families, but our emotions are that there is no way a war can be acceptable in the 21st centur," Guterres said.
