Leaders from around the world are strongly condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian forces following horrifying images of civilian casualties from Bucha, Ukraine.

Some leaders are labeling Putin a "war criminal" and consider the violence that occurred in the town of Bucha "genocide."

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly accused Russian forces of committing genocide in his country, other leaders have stopped short. The claim carries a complex legal weight and investigations are underway into war crimes alleged to have been committed by Russian forces.

Evidence of civilian deaths in Bucha at the hands of Russian forces have nonetheless sparked global condemnation and triggered fresh responses from the West. 

Here are how some leaders are reacting to the civilian casualty reports coming out of Bucha:

Polish President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday called Putin a war criminal, saying no world leader should speak to him again after the many "massacres" carried out by the Russian forces in Ukraine, including the violence in Bucha which he said, "fulfill the feature of a genocide.” 

"We hear about the de-Nazification of Ukraine, it is nonsense, rubbish, blatant Russian propaganda looking for a false pretext in order to carry out a massacre and kill people, and the fact that civilians are being killed shows best what the goal of Russian invasion is: To extinguish the Ukrainian nation,” Duda told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview in Warsaw.  

The Polish leader said the scenes from Ukraine are unseen since World War II and they echo the "same model of Soviet crimes,” adding that war crimes were committed by Moscow not only in Bucha "but all over Ukraine.” 

"I hope that nobody in the international community, after what we have seeing in Ukraine, will never again talk to Vladimir Putin. I hope nobody will consider him a decent and fair leader or politician simply,” he said. 

France has called the deaths of civilians in Bucha “a new step in horror” and has vowed to ensure such an act “does not remain unpunished.”

France is also in favor of a tougher sanctions regime against Russia, French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said during a news conference on Wednesday.

“After these massacres, we must go further,” he said. “President [Macron] has told President Zelensky that we have no taboos in terms of sanctions, and he repeated that we are ready for drastic measures on imports of Russian coal and oil.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested Russia’s atrocities in Bucha and elsewhere are close to resembling “genocide” and vowed more sanctions are on the way. 

“I’m afraid that when you look at what's happening in Bucha, the revelations that we’re seeing from what Putin has done in Ukraine, which you know, doesn’t look far short of genocide to me, it is no wonder that people are responding in the way that they are,” Johnson told reporters today. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid described the killings in Bucha as "war crimes."

"Once again, a large and powerful country has invaded a smaller neighbor without any justification," he tweeted. "Once again, the ground is soaked with the blood of innocent civilians. The images and testimony from Ukraine are horrific. Russian forces committed war crimes against a defenseless civilian population. I strongly condemn these war crimes."

As has been the case since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Lapid’s comments — first made while speaking alongside his Greek and Cypriot counterparts — were in marked contrast to those of Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. While Bennett also condemned the killings in Bucha, he did not blame Russia. 

"We are shocked by the horrific pictures coming out of Bucha, terrible scenes, and we strongly condemn them," Bennett said after addressing Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. "The images are very harsh. The suffering that the Ukrainian people are facing is huge and we are doing all that we can to help."

India’s ambassador to the United Nations condemned the killings of civilians in Bucha, marking a noticeable shift in Indian officials’ public approach to the invasion of Ukraine by its long-time partner Russia. 

T.S. Tirumurti, India's permanent representative to the UN, called reports of the killings “deeply disturbing” during a UN Security Council meeting Tuesday. 

“We unequivocally condemn these killings and support the call for an open investigation,” Tirumurti said, without naming Russia. 
“The situation in Ukraine has not shown any significant improvement since the Council last discussed the issue. The situation has only deteriorated, as well as its humanitarian consequences,” he said.