Biden calls for war-crimes trial of Putin after mass graves found around Kyiv

President Biden called for a war-crimes trial of Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday following the discovery of mass graves and streets littered with the bodies of dead civilians after the Russian retreat from suburbs around Kyiv.

“You saw what happened in Bucha,” Biden told reporters, referring to a town near Kyiv where numerous civilians were found dead, some bearing marks of torture or execution. The Ukrainian government said it has counted more than 400 civilian deaths so far in the suburbs of the capital city.

Biden previously branded Putin a “war criminal” in remarks March 17, but at that time the White House said he was speaking personally and not outlining a formal U.S. position. But six days later, the U.S. formally accused Russia of war crimes and said it was collecting evidence to help prove it.

“He is a war criminal,” Biden said of Putin on Monday, describing the longtime Russian leader as “brutal.” “But we have to gather information, we have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue to fight.”

In a video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the most brutal images from newly liberated areas such as Bucha were still to come.

“After the expulsion of the occupiers, even worse things could be found there. Even more death and torture,” Zelensky said. “This is the nature of the Russian forces who came onto our land.”

Zelensky was photographed walking through charred rubble in Bucha on Monday as armed guards surrounded him. The president called on the media to come to the city to “show the world what happened here.”

Zelensky has described the scenes in Bucha, where photos and videos show mass graves and dead men and women face down on residential roads, as evidence of Russian “genocide” against Ukrainians.

He pledged to set up a special judicial mechanism, with the participation of international prosecutors and judges, to investigate alleged war atrocities. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Monday that she had spoken with Zelensky about the European Union sending investigators to work with the Ukrainian government to “document war crimes.”

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday dismissed the scenes outside Kyiv as a “stage-managed anti-Russian provocation,” saying that Bucha’s mayor had not spoken of atrocities immediately after Russian troops left the area last week.

The horrific scenes have generated calls for heavier sanctions on Moscow over the war, which is now in its 40th day.

“We will do everything to ensure that those who have perpetrated these war crimes do not go unpunished,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Monday, citing “alleged cases of [crimes against] humanity, war crimes and — why not say it, too — genocide.”

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday described the gruesome images as “unbearable.” Macron, who said he supported additional sanctions, said it was “very clear” that Russia committed war crimes.

And a top government official in Germany, a primary importer of Russian gas and one of the strongest holdouts against cutting off such trade, signaled Sunday that it might change course and support a ban. “There has to be a response,” Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said. “Such crimes must not remain unanswered.”