The West is powerless in the face of Russian war crimes

‘Our home is our heart,’ a video posted by a couple from the Kyiv suburb of Hostomel begins, showing them cycling through its leafy streets and playing with their dogs. In a split second, the picture changes. Their house is on fire. Outside, a car has ploughed into a ditch, its young passengers shot dead. Helicopters tear overhead while Russian soldiers stalk the surrounding woodland.

The UN estimates that 3,500 innocent people have been killed or injured since the invasion of Ukraine began. As Russian troops are pushed back around the capital, evidence is mounting that the number may already be much higher.

Just south of Hostomel is the suburb of Bucha, which the Ukrainian army retook last week from Moscow’s forces. The roads there are lined with corpses, many with their hands bound and with gunshot wounds to the heads. Bodies of residents have been found half-submerged in pits, heaped up behind buildings.