Zelenskyy on genocide in Bucha and mass graves in Kyiv Oblast: That was when hatred of "Russians" emerged
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said hatred of "Russians" emerged after the towns around Kyiv were liberated and mass graves of tortured adults and children were discovered. Until then, he said, no one had understood what a full-scale war meant.
The president spoke about this on Stephen Bartlett’s The Diary of a CEO podcast, Censor.NET reports.
Bucha is genocide
Zelenskyy stressed that Bucha is widely recognised as genocide. Russians tortured and buried hundreds of people. A grave containing about 500 people was found.
"When we liberated those towns around Kyiv, hatred of "Russians" emerged. It was at that moment. Not even when they launched the full-scale war. Back then, no one understood what it meant. We understood what war was, and what Putin had personally done, when we found those mass graves of tortured adults and children. They had not simply killed them — they had tortured and killed them," he said.
"How can you listen to Putin after that?"
Zelenskyy stressed that, after such atrocities, statements by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin could not be trusted.
"When we liberated Bucha, I said, ‘Bring all the journalists here. Don’t do anything. Bring the journalists. The whole world needs to see this.’ Imagine, forgive me, God forbid, finding a grave today in the US or Britain containing 500 tortured people, adults and children, alongside dogs and other animals that had been shot. They hunted people from their vehicles. People ran, and they shot at them. They were simply playing with people. It was a kind of slavery. So how can you listen to Putin after that? How can you forgive?" the president said.
