China's UN envoy calls violence in Bucha 'deeply disturbing'

[UNITED NATIONS] China's envoy to the United Nations expressed dismay at the killing of unarmed civilians in Bucha, while calling on all sides to refrain judgment until a probe establishes who is responsible.

"Attacks against civilians are unacceptable and should not occur," Ambassador Zhang Jun said Tuesday (Apr 5) at a UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine. "The reports and images of civilian deaths in Bucha are deeply disturbing."

Still, Zhang stopped short of condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin for the violence, saying that "circumstances and specific causes of the incident should be verified and established" and "all sides should exercise restraint and avoid unfounded accusations".

President Joe Biden has said Putin could face a war crimes trial related to the civilian deaths in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, and other Ukrainian towns vacated by Russian soldiers. While the International Criminal Court has opened an investigation, Russia has denied that its forces killed civilians, saying pictures of bodies strewn on the streets were a fabrication by Ukraine.

China has come under increased pressure from the Washington and Brussels to take a clear stance on the conflict, as its diplomats and state media play down civilian casualties and cast Putin as a victim of a US-backed eastward expansion of Nato.

European leaders told Xi in a Friday video call that "equidistance is not enough", European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the tense meeting, adding her side made clear that "active engagement for peace is important".

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Chinese state media outlets including the overseas edition of Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, China Central Television's military affairs channel and China Daily posted Zhang's remarks Wednesday to China's Twitter-like Weibo.

The posts attracted little attention compared with items on the Covid-19 outbreak in Shanghai and unverified footage of Ukrainian marines surrendering in Mariupol, which was briefly the second top trending item. BLOOMBERG