Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday that Canada is helping to investigate war crimes in Ukraine, suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin is targeting civilians on purpose as his forces continue to attack the neighbouring country.
Appearing on CNN鈥檚 鈥淪tate of the Union鈥�, Trudeau said that the images coming out of towns like Bucha are 鈥渉orrific.鈥�
鈥淚t is clear that Putin is systematically targeting civilians, whether it鈥檚 hospitals or train stations or maternity wards,鈥� he told CNN's Jake Tapper.
鈥淭his is one of the reasons Canada was one of the first countries to call on the international criminal court to look into Putin鈥檚 war crimes. We鈥檙e providing investigative support, we鈥檙e building up the case for people to recognize that not only was this a terrible mistake to violate the sovereignty of another country and create massive global instability that鈥檚 impacting energy and food prices around the world, but it is also a series of war crimes that Putin is deliberately committing that he needs to be held to account for.鈥�
As Russian forces have pulled back from their attack on Kyiv to focus on other regions, Ukrainian forces have been able to retake towns that were under Russian occupation. Photos of bodies lying in the streets of Bucha, and reports from survivors who described Russian soldiers killing civilians without provocation have sent a chill through the international community.
There have also been reports of Russian soldiers raping and abusing Ukrainian civilians.
A member of the Ukrainian parliament and leader of Ukraine鈥檚 liberal and pro-Europe Holos Party appeared on 麻豆传媒 Channel鈥檚 Power Play last Monday to describe what she saw when touring Bucha, calling it a 鈥渢otal genocide.鈥�
Trudeau did not say Sunday if he believed it was genocide, saying that it is still 鈥渢o be determined.鈥�
鈥淭he messages we鈥檙e seeing, the stories of what Russian soldiers are doing, not just the murder of civilians but the systematic use of sexual violence and rape to destabilize and have the greatest negative impact on Ukrainian people as possible, is absolutely unforgivable and unacceptable,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why the global community is going to and is responding so strongly.鈥�
On Saturday, the federal government announced it was introducing more measures to assist Ukrainian refugees in coming to Canada, including charter flights, temporary hotel accommodation and short-term income support.
