Marcin Przydacz’s words came after harrowing images and footage emerged of areas around the Ukrainian capital following the retreat of Russian forces, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
Published by Ukraine over the weekend, the videos showed extensive destruction and civilian deaths, with many unarmed people apparently shot in the town of Bucha near the capital Kyiv.
Ukraine said Bucha’s civilian population had been subjected to arbitrary executions and bodies were scattered around the streets, some with their hands tied behind their backs, according to the Polish state news agency.
‘Echoes of 20th-century atrocities’
In an interview with Polish broadcaster TVP, Przydacz said the scenes and reports from Bucha were “shocking” and “reminiscent of the worst events of the 20th century.”
He reflected that back in 1940, "also in April," the Soviet Union carried out “executions of Polish army officers and intellectuals in Katyn.”
Przydacz said those killed in Bucha were “not soldiers, but ordinary people … who probably lost their lives only because they were Ukrainian.”
'With a neighbour like that ... we can’t feel safe'
He added: “It only serves to show what kind of bestial regime we are dealing with ... It proves that with a neighbour like that beyond our eastern border, we can’t feel safe."
Przydacz told TVP that the world "must do everything to support Ukraine” in its struggle against “the bestial regime, which is simply killing people.”
He noted that the Hague-based International Criminal Court had launched an investigation into Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
“Now it’s about supporting this probe by providing concrete evidence,” Przydacz told the Polish state television broadcaster.
Poland calls for international probe
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Monday called for the establishment of an international commission to investigate what he called “the crime of genocide” committed by Russian forces.
Poland’s foreign ministry said a day earlier that images from Bucha “bring to mind comparisons with the darkest" days of "Stalinist and Nazi totalitarianism.”
“We declare that we will do everything to ensure that those responsible for these heinous acts will be brought to justice,” the Polish foreign ministry added.
Monday was day 40 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: IAR, PAP