President joins chorus of condemnation of atrocities in Kyiv region

Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has added his voice to that of the government in condemning reported atrocities by Russian forces in Busha, in the Kyiv region, stressing that the “foreign policy orientation” of the country’s executive mtaches that of the head of state.

Speaking to journalists outside the 24th National Congress of the Portuguese Medical Association, held on Sunday at Lisbon’s Universidade Nova, de Sousa was asked by journalists about the situation in the Ukrainian city of Busha, where many bodies, including those of children, were found in mass graves after the withdrawal of Russian forces.

In his answer, the president said that his view was in line with “what has been the position of the Portuguese government on the matter” and that “the policy adopted by the country[is] one.

“The orientation of the Government’s foreign policy, also on this point, is the orientation of the president,” he said.

Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, had earlier on Sunday condemned “atrocities against civilians” in Busha, in the Kyiv region, where many bodies were discovered after the withdrawal of the Russian army, calling them “an unacceptable barbarity” in war.

“The brutality of the images from Bucha is shocking,” Costa wrote in English on his official account on the social network Twitter. “We strongly condemn these atrocities against civilians. This unacceptable cruelty must be severely punished by international justice.”

The prime minister thus joined an international chorus of indignation provoked by images from Busha, where many bodies, including those of children, were found in mass graves after Russian forces withdrew.

Ukraine has gone so far as to accuse Russia of “genocide” as it claims to have found the bodies of 410 civilians in the Kyiv region in areas recently recaptured from Moscow’s forces.

In Busha, a town some 30 kilometres northwest of Kiev, hundreds of corpses were found in the streets or buried in mass graves, according to Ukrainian officials said.

Russia, however, has denied that its troops had killed civilians in the town, saying that all the photos and videos published by the Ukrainian government were “a provocation” and staged.