Rusal President Bernard Zonneveld, an independent non-executive director, did not say who was responsible, nor did he say directly that anyone was killed in Bucha, where Ukrainian forces and journalists found dozens of corpses in the streets and mass graves after Russian troops left. “We believe this crime should be thoroughly investigated,” he said in a statement this week. “We support an objective and impartial investigation into this crime and call for severe punishment for the perpetrators.” Zonneveld’s statement came as Russian companies remained largely silent on the war amid strong opposition from Russian authorities and state-controlled media reports in support of what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation.” Zonneveld said the company was “interested in ending the conflict in this European country as soon as possible” and that reports from Bucha “shocked us”. The Kremlin said the deaths were organized by Ukrainians to underestimate Russian forces. Ukrainian officials and Western leaders say Russian troops have carried out the killings and are a war crime. The shocking images have led to a series of new sanctions from the West. Rusal founder Oleg Deripaska has called for peace talks, while another businessman, Roman Abramovich, has attended talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials.
