The Wall Street Journal reports:

Nearly 300 civilians have been buried in mass graves by local authorities in this small suburb of Kyiv after Russian troops withdrew last week, one of several regions where Ukrainian officials and independent rights watchdogs say they are uncovering evidence of war crimes perpetrated by occupation forces.

Footage taken by the Ukrainian military shortly after Russian forces abandoned Bucha showed streets littered with bodies of civilians, some of them with their hands tied. Human Rights Watch on Sunday released a report documenting cases of rape and summary executions in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, including Bucha, as well as other crimes.

“Kyiv region. 21st century hell. Bodies of men and women, who were killed with their hands tied,” Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote in a Sunday social-media post with images of shallow graves and executed civilians in Bucha and nearby towns. Bucha’s municipality Saturday put the number of bodies it buried in the mass graves at 280, with more being found amid the wreckage.

The reports drew widespread condemnation from Western governments on Sunday, suggesting they could alter the international response to the war. It could put pressure on the West to deliver more-powerful weapons to Ukraine and make it harder for some countries to justify continuing to purchase oil and natural gas from Russia. It could also complicate the peace talks currently under way between Ukraine and Russia. [Continue reading…]