Luxembourg PM condemns ‘senseless cruelty’ on Ukraine visit

Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said Tuesday that Kyiv’s war-battered suburb of Borodianka was a symbol of “senseless cruelty and violence” during a visit to Ukraine.

Bettel is the latest high-ranking official to visit Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Premier Mario Draghi travelled to Kyiv last week. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was back in Ukraine last week on a separate visit.

Borodianka “has suffered to the point of total destruction by Russian aggression and is today a symbol of senseless cruelty and violence. Nothing can convey the horror of what has happened here,” Bettel said on Twitter.

He shared pictures of his visit in which was shown speaking with residents near destroyed houses and hugging a woman in black head scarf.

Earlier, Bettel announced he had arrived in Kyiv to show “Luxembourg’s solidarity with the people of Ukraine”.

“Because as long as Russia’s war lasts, Luxembourg will #standwithUkraine,” he wrote.

He was expected to hold a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at 1230 GMT.

Bucha, Borodyanka, Irpin and other Kyiv suburbs became a symbol of alleged Russian atrocities after whole residential blocks there were destroyed and hundreds of civilians were found killed following the retreat of Moscow’s troops in early April.

The police chief of the Kyiv region said Tuesday that victims of the Russian attempt to seize the city continued to be found with 1,333 bodies of civilians discovered so far and 300 people still missing.