The Bucha massacre
in Ukraine attracted strident criticism from Canada’s House of Commons on Monday.
The House passed a motion after allegations surfaced of Russian atrocities in
the Ukrainian city of Bucha where piles of dead bodies were found after Putin’s
forces retreated from the city.

Canadian members
of Parliament resolved, “in light of the horrific and appalling reports
received from the city of Bucha, the House condemn in the strongest terms
possible the crimes against humanity and war crimes perpetrated by Vladimir
Putin, the Russian military and Russian-backed forces.”

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Justin Trudeau,
the Canadian prime minister, tweeted, “We won’t spare any effort to make sure
violations of international law in Ukraine are investigated, and we won’t
relent in holding Putin and his enablers accountable.”

Canada, in line
with its foreign policy framework, has come out strongly against the Russian
invasion of Ukraine. The North American nation has sanctioned 700 individuals linked
to Putin’s regime so far.

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Canadian Foreign
Minister Melanie Joly expressed her shock at the Bucha killings while she was
holding a press conference in Helsinki. She said the world had “witnessed an
abhorrent and senseless attack on innocent civilians in Bucha and these acts
were clearly war crimes.”

Joly’s remarks
came the same day the Canadian government sanctioned nine Russian and nine
Belarusian individuals for their proximity to the Putin regime. The sanctions
were imposed because, “by enabling Vladimir Putin’s senseless invasion of
Ukraine, these close collaborators of the regime are complicit in the horrific
events unfolding before our eyes,” the Canadian foreign ministry said in a
statement.

The Bucha massacre
is perhaps the biggest revelation so far on how Russian forces are going about
their “special military operation” in Ukraine. Bodies of at least 410 people
were removed from Bucha, according to an Al Jazeera report. Bucha mayor Anatoly
Fedoruk said the city administration has buried 280 people in mass graves.