The war in Ukraine: an international protest after the Bucha massacres

Faced with the atrocities unearthed this weekend in the outskirts of Kyiv after the departure of Russian troops, and whose evidence reported by journalists arrives at once on the wires of news agencies, the authorities of the Western world vow to tighten penalties and demand an “independent investigation” of “war crimes”. Possible.

Pictures of dozens of corpses littered the streets of Pocce or hastily deposited in mass graves in the suburbs near Kyiv this weekend, taken after the departure of Russian troops, sparked a rebellion of Westerners. In the United States, the head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, speaks of a “punch in the stomach.”

On Sunday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply shocked by the images of civilians killed in Bucha”, and the UN human rights office spoke of “possible war crimes”. He called for an “independent investigation”. Reuters journalists at the scene sent pictures of Boucha streets torn and strewn with corpses until Sunday evening, with many civilians apparently having their hands tied behind their backs.

AFP reporters, also present, reported seeing the bodies of at least 22 people in civilian clothes on the streets of Bucha on Saturday, killed “by a bullet in the back of the neck,” according to the mayor. to Agence France-Presse.

Moscow denies the UN appeal
On Sunday, Russia confirmed that it had carried out several air strikes on military facilities and fuel depots in the Kyiv and Mykolaiv regions of Ukraine. In particular, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that the control center of an air base had been destroyed in Vasylkiev, near Kyiv. But Moscow denied any blackmail by him.

“During the period when this region was under the control of the Russian armed forces, no local citizen was subjected to acts of violence,” the Russian Defense Ministry said, claiming that the photos of the corpses were “a new production of the Kyiv regime.” Western media.

Russia even requested a meeting of the UN Security Council to decide on the “hateful provocations” committed by “Ukrainian extremists” in Bucha according to it.

Emmanuel Macron evokes “intolerable images”
Denial that did not convince French President Emmanuel Macron. “The images that come to us from Butch, a liberated town near Kyiv, are unbearable. During the night from Sunday to Monday in the streets, hundreds of cowardly civilians were killed,” he said on Twitter, adding: “The Russian authorities must be held accountable for these crimes.”

War could cost Europe a point and a half of growth

The Russian invasion of Ukraine will cost the old continent dearly. This could cut “one to two and a half points” from growth in Europe, depending on the duration of the conflict, while inflation could rise “by two to two and a half points,” the OECD’s chief economist, Lawrence Boone, estimates.

It specifies that there is a “high degree of uncertainty” with respect to these estimates, and considers that it will be necessary to conduct “in-depth reflection on core topics, including food, energy and digital security, as well as commercial trade regulation”.

When asked about the generalized price hike in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, she considered that the conflict “raises expectations for the prices of grain and fertilizers exported by Russia and Ukraine”, and that it “may affect not only this year’s harvest, but likely in 2023 as well”.

But the shock “cannot be compared to that of the seventies, because the institutions are different.” “Inflation will remain high this year, but it may start to slow in 2023, depending on how the war progresses,” she said. In response, it recommends “the development of targeted fiscal policies to help families and businesses navigate this process.”

Sami Namli from Les Inspirations ECO