Ukraine has been bleeding for more than 50 days: how long?

Last weekend the international community woke up in terror as it witnessed what amounts to a Russian-style war in Europe.

Having recaptured the small towns of Bucha and Irpin on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukrainian troops found a desolate area that showed the true face of the Russian "liberators" who hastily left what was once a recreation district. The Russian invaders once again resorted to the chilling tactic of scorched earth, comparable only to other ethnic cleansing operations.

Summary executions in basements of handcuffed people, including children and grandparents, mass rapes, including girls under the age of 10, naked bodies dumped on pavements, mass graves, houses ransacked, dogs shot dead in the streets and in the cages of animal shelters ... It is a heart-rending picture. 

It is a heartbreaking picture of the human condition left behind by the "emissaries of the great Russian culture".

Are we to go on talking about Russian ballet, the greatness of Russian poetry and prose, Russian music, film and theatre as if massacres like the one in Bucha were not happening? Are we once again to ignore them?

It is not only Putin who is guilty. Those who pulled the trigger and executed hundreds in Bucha must be prosecuted and held accountable. Together with those who looted houses in Irpin, raped women and minors in the towns of Bucha, Irpin, Gostomel, Brovary. Those who killed, cooked and... ate the Central Asian shepherd dog in the village of Yasnogorodka. Isn't it a testimony of the collective moral decay in Russia?

Are the Russian servicemen who committed these atrocities in Ukraine "sentient beings"? What do the mothers of these Russian servicemen feel (if they feel anything at all)?

The recent talks in Istanbul showed that there is still a long way to go before a result can be achieved on all the key issues, a permanent ceasefire and the disengagement from the territory of my country.

The consultations must stay on track. Ukraine will continue to raise the issues that will allow a ceasefire to be imposed and will demand the withdrawal of Russian troops to the 23 February line. We are ready to discuss, in principle, security guarantees to Ukraine from the leading countries that are able to do so. In the short term, without further delay, the issues of opening and providing the necessary guarantees for the safe operation of humanitarian corridors on a permanent basis, evacuation of the wounded and exchange of mortal remains, release of prisoners of war and civilians forcibly interned on the territory of Russia must be unblocked.

However, during these consultations our delegation made it clear to the Kremlin representatives that Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable. Russia will have to pay compensation for everything ruined in Ukraine, as well as fully return the temporarily occupied territories.

Russia is carrying out genocide in Ukraine. They came exactly with a very clear plan and goal: to cleanse the territory of the "disloyal" population, those who resist the idea of resurrecting a Russian empire.

I hope that the civilised world will finally realise that the monster of the Russian Federation has become an existential threat and has no right to remain a part of it.

In Ukraine the Russian barbarian can be stopped and forced to return to its primitive cave. Otherwise, other countries in Europe will be next.

Seeing the horrors of Bucha, the European Community, together with the United States and other democracies, must show all its determination to defend the values and principles they declare.

Europe has a whole arsenal of tools that will make Russia pay a heavy price for its aggression and atrocities in Ukraine.

It is a moral obligation, not an option, to impose devastating sanctions on the Russian economy, as well as to investigate war crimes and punish those responsible.

Trade cooperation with Russia is immoral. Behind this cooperation hide the faces of foreign businessmen who invested in Russia's economy and now hope that the war will end soon without them losing the benefits and preferences offered by the Kremlin. There are companies fully aware of the immorality of their actions, which try to play a low profile by covering up their business with Russia, even if their exports or imports are not critical, as is the case with Naturgy's purchases of natural gas. Has Naturgy informed its consumers that they finance Putin's war machine?

If companies do not feel the moral pressure to break these ties, then democratic governments should intervene by introducing a total embargo on Russian oil and gas imports, banning any business dealings with Russia, primarily transfers of hydrocarbon extraction technologies and military use.

Democratic governments and judicial systems can also investigate and freeze assets belonging to or linked to the Putin regime. Mechanisms must be developed to expropriate these funds and use them for the recovery of Ukraine and the economies that suffered damage as a result of this aggression.

For these measures to have the greatest effect, they must be immediately complemented by the massive supply of weapons to Ukraine, since the future of the European continent and the duration of the war are now being decided on the battlefield. First and foremost, Ukraine needs the means to close its skies against air strikes and heavy armaments, such as tanks, to carry out the offensive and recapture the territories occupied by the Russian invaders. Europe has these armaments and can follow the example of other countries that approved the delivery of such weapons.

The international community must show its maturity and consider the option of expelling Russia from international organisations. A state that behaves like a terrorist - whose troops capture nuclear power plants and blackmail the whole world with a threat of radioactive contamination, carry out acts of ethnic cleansing and commit war crimes - cannot sit at the table of the most important international forums that define the rules of civilised coexistence.

On 8 March, the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organisation supported the initiative to launch the process of suspending Russia from the organisation. I hope that the UNWTO General Assembly will approve this decision at its session at the end of April.

Taking this opportunity, I call on all Ambassadors representing their governments at the World Tourism Organization to speak out in favour of the expulsion of the Russian Federation from this international body.

Serhii Pohoreltsev. Ambassador of Ukraine to Spain/ The Diplomat