'There must be accountability' in Ukraine conflict, says UK foreign secretary

The UK’s foreign secretary James Cleverly has said that there needed to be “accountability” for Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine.

He referred to claims of rape and sexual violence being used as weapons while he was in Kyiv, and that he also heard “very credible claims” that Ukrainian children are being forcibly sent to Russia to be adopted, Qazet.az reports according to BBC.

When asked by Laura Kuenssberg on her BBC show whether Putin should be tried for war crimes he did give a definitive answer.

He said:

There absolutely must be accountability and that means the soldiers on the ground who are perpetrating these atrocities right up to the very top. There has to be accountability, including Vladimir Putin.

We’ve been supportive of the International Criminal Court, but we recognise there may be other vehicles and we’ll work with our friends, including the Ukrainians, in the international community to look about what an effective accountability framework would look like.