HRW: What happened in Butcha could be repeated on a very large scale

What is happening in Bucha and other cities around Kiev can be repeated on a very large scale. And so the message we're trying to send the Kremlin is that here is the proof of these atrocities happening. If you want to avoid criminal responsibility, you reign in your troops,” he said.

The International Criminal Court has already filed a war crimes investigation in Ukraine, but Roth stressed that “is urgent to move as soon as possible” to downplay the amount of lost evidence.

From the prospect of war crimes, it is not enough to have one body. You have to understand why that person died? In some cases, we are taking account of people who were connected, who were executed. This is a clear war crime. But if someone was killed in a crossfire, you should look more closely. Some of them could have been soldiers, whether Ukrainian or Russian. So you really need to investigate,” said Roth.

US President Joe Biden today called the alleged atrocities committed by Russian forces in Bucha a war crime and called for a trial to be held against Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, he did not label the killings a <x0-genocide”.

In response to Beden's remarks, Roth said that we should not reduce what we are seeing in Bucha, just because it is not genocide.

A war crime is pretty serious. Some people confuse language and claim it to be genocide. We haven't seen genocide yet. I hope we don't get to this in Ukraine”, he said.

When asked if Putin can personally be held responsible for alleged war crimes, Roth said: “in principle, yes”.

What needs to be proven is that he has been aware that these crimes have occurred. I doubt this can be proved and that he has not taken steps to reign, to stop them,” said Roth.