Pope Francis Condemns Massacre of Bucha, Calls for End to War in Ukraine

Even as the Russian army continues to bombard Ukraine, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shared the post-war security situation in the country. In his comments to local media posted on the president’s official website on Tuesday, Zelenskiy stressed that his vision for the post conflict future includes armed forces in  “all institutions, supermarkets, cinemas, there will be people with weapons”. 

Zelenskiy, who is Jewish, has said he wants Ukraine to follow the Israel model and not to emulate a liberal European democracy. In Israel, you will see all civilians, settlers and soldiers armed with weapons and Zelenskiy wants Ukraine to become a “big Israel”.

Amid the global condemnation over Bucha killings, Russian forces continued to pond the key cities of Ukraine on Wednesday. Zelenskiy appealed to the Western countries to impose new sanctions in response to civilian killings in Bucha town widely condemned as war crimes.

A survivor of Bucha massacre, with English subs. pic.twitter.com/SLCwqStQhN

— Ostap Yarysh (@OstapYarysh) April 6, 2022

After the gory images of dead civilians shot at close range in Bucha were appeared, Pope Francis termed the killings as a “massacre” while the European Commission hinted at further sanctions including considering a ban on energy imports. However, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner in his interview to a newspaper, said their country, which relies on Russian gas for much of its energy needs, was just not ready for an immediate ban. 

Ukrainian officials say between 150 and 300 bodies might be in a mass grave by a church in Bucha. Meanwhile, the Moscow administration denied targeting civilians during their “special military operation” in Bucha, north of the capital Kyiv. 

The Ukraine President Zelenskiy accused some Western leaders of weighing in financial losses before acting decisively against Russia when its troops are committing war crimes. While addressing Ireland's parliament on Wednesday, he said “When we are hearing new rhetoric about sanctions... I can't tolerate any indecisiveness after everything that Russian troops have done,” He appealed to the Dublin government to prevail upon its European Union partners to introduce “more rigid” measure against Russia.