{"id":862917,"date":"2026-03-31T16:22:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/862917\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T16:22:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:22:19","slug":"bucha-anniversary-sees-eu-call-for-russian-war-crime-prosecutions-euobserver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/862917\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucha anniversary sees EU call for Russian war-crime prosecutions \u2013 EUobserver"},"content":{"rendered":"

EU ministers have highlighted Russia\u2019s \u201ccruelty\u201d in Ukraine, marking the anniversary of the Bucha massacre, against a backdrop Hungarian disloyalty and US disinterest.<\/p>\n

The Bucha massacre of 400 Ukrainian civilians in April 2025 \u201chas \u200bcome to symbolise the cruelty of Russia\u2019s war\u201d, said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday (31 March) after visiting a memorial on the eve of the fourth anniversary<\/a>, together with ministers from 12 EU countries.<\/p>\n

Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski said: \u201cAnybody who claims that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is not a war criminal should come and see for themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n

German foreign minister Johann Wadepuhl said: \u201cWe are working together with our partners to enable the legal prosecution of Russian atrocities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s Antonio Tajani also said: \u201cThe goal must be a just peace, also to prevent new massacres of innocent civilians\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha contradicted last year\u2019s 28-point US peace proposal, which called for amnesty for Russian war crimes, saying: \u201cThere will be no amnesty for Russian criminals, including the highest political and military leadership of the Russian federation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The EU delegation to Bucha included foreign ministers from Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, and Sweden, as well as more junior ministers from Cyprus (the EU presidency), Finland, and France, while others sent high officials.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin-friendly Hungary and Slovakia sent their Ukraine ambassadors only, in a diplomatic bare minimum. <\/p>\n

Hungary also boycotted a declaration on Russian accountability endorsed by all 26 other EU capitals.<\/p>\n

This came after it vetoed EU funds for Kyiv and sanctions on Russia<\/a>, while its foreign minister, P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3, admitted on Tuesday<\/a> to holding phone talks with Moscow\u2019s EU blacklisted foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on who to delete from EU blacklists.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kallas had spoken with Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 about it, telling him \u201cthat the [EU] council\u2019s internal deliberations must not be disclosed to third parties,\u201d her spokeswoman told press in Brussels the same day.<\/p>\n

But neither Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 nor Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n are hiding their loyalties to Moscow any more.<\/p>\n

Ukraine \u201cshut down our oil supply to create chaos and influence our elections,\u201d Orb\u00e1n said on X on Tuesday, referring to the damaged Druzhba pipeline<\/a>, while not mentioning Bucha.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hungary\u2019s pro-Russian stance comes amid a pro-Kremlin turn by US president Donald Trump, whose secretary of state, Marco Rubio reacted angrily<\/a> at Kallas in France last week, after she had asked America for more pressure on Putin.<\/p>\n

The Iran war has diverted Western air-defences from Kyiv while enriching Russia via high oil prices.<\/p>\n

And the EU\u2019s refusal to join the US attack<\/a> on Iran was widening the transatlantic rift.<\/p>\n

France joined Italy and Spain in declining use of its airspace for Iran arms shipments on Tuesday, prompting a Trump rebuke.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Country of France wouldn\u2019t let planes headed to Israel, loaded up with military supplies, fly over French territory. France has been VERY UNHELPFUL \u2026 The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!!,\u201d Trump said on social media.<\/p>\n

Rubio told the Al Jazeera broadcaster: \u201cWe have countries like Spain, a Nato member that we are pledged to defend, denying us the use of their airspace and bragging about it \u2026 and so you ask yourself, well, what is in it [Nato membership] for the United States?\u201d.<\/p>\n

The talk of abandoning Nato comes as the Ukraine war creeps ever closer to overspill into EU territory.<\/p>\n

If Russia detected that EU states were letting Ukraine use their airspace for drone attack against its Baltic Sea oil facilities, it would strike back, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that if airspace is being provided for hostile, terrorist activities against the Russian Federation, this will compel us to draw appropriate conclusions and take appropriate measures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peskov belittled Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky\u2019s offer of an Easter-holiday ceasefire, saying: \u201cThe Kyiv regime desperately needs a ceasefire, any ceasefire, because the dynamics on the front \u2026 indicate that Russian forces \u2014 faster, somewhere slower \u2014 are advancing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hungary is also blocking the start of Ukraine\u2019s EU accession talks.<\/p>\n

But the group-of-12 EU ministers discussed enlargement as well as energy prices with Sybiha in Kyiv on Tuesday, amid fears that Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil were aggravating the global, Iran-linked energy crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cUkraine is Europe, and our place is in the European Union. The current front line is also the line of international law and the shared values we defend,\u201d said Sybiha.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said on X: \u201cHungary is and will be in the European Union. Victor Orb\u00e1n and his foreign minister left Europe long ago\u201d. <\/p>\n

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