Russia will have to answer for Ukraine atrocities: France

Russia will have to answer for its “barbaric violations of the laws of war” in Ukraine, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Wednesday.

Whenever Ukraine troops take back territory from the invading Russian forces, they discover “massacres or mass graves, as in Bucha in the spring and more recently in Izyum,” Borne said during a debate on the conflict in the upper house Senate.

“These are shocking, revolting, monstrous acts. They are barbaric violations of the laws of war, and Russia will have to answer for them,” she added.

Borne also referred to “implausible statements by the Russian defence minister about Ukraine using a dirty bomb. It is nothing but another lie by Moscow to legitimise the escalation”.

Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier Wednesday reiterated claims that Ukraine is preparing a provocation using a “dirty bomb”, a conventional bomb laced with radioactive, biological or chemical materials.

To the applause of the Senate, Borne paid tribute to the Ukrainians’ “courage” and “heroism”.

But “despite the Russian fragility, let us not believe for a moment that the end of the fighting is near,” she added.

“Russia is ready for anything. And it is not on a battlefield but around a negotiating table that we will find a way out of this war,” she said.