RUSSIA blamed Britain today for blocking a meeting of the UN security council to discuss alleged war crimes committed in the Ukrainian town of Bucha. 

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reiterated the call today after a request for an emergency session was refused on Sunday as reports of mass graves emerged following the withdrawal of Russian troops. 

“Russia today will again demand the convening of the UN security council in connection with the criminal provocations of the Ukrainian military and radicals in this city,” she said. 

Footage appears to show dead bodies in civilian clothing strewn in the streets of the city, many with their hands tied behind their backs.

Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said that some 280 people found in a mass grave had been shot through the back of the head. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Russians would be “forever synonymous” with the atrocities committed in Bucha, calling for war crimes charges to be brought against his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. 

“Your culture and human appearance perished together with the Ukrainian men and women,” he said.

Mr Zelensky condemned the West for its policy of “appeasement” toward Russia, saying it should have allowed Ukraine to join Nato when it had the chance 14-years ago. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on the international criminal court and international organisations to come to the region “to collect evidence of Russian war crimes.” 

And German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said that the economic bloc should consider a ban on gas imports from Russia.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation into the alleged war crimes.

But Russia continues to deny its forces were involved in any atrocities in Bucha and said it had delivered over 450 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the city’s residents. 

It blamed Ukrainian forces for carrying out reprisal attacks against those deemed pro-Russian in so-called “clear-up operations” after Russian troops pulled back from Bucha last week. 

Kremlin press secretary Dimtry Peskov denied accusations levelled at Russia.

“This information must be seriously questioned. From what we have seen, our experts have identified signs of video falsification and other fakes,” he told reporters in Moscow.

The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that the massacre in Bucha “has been staged by the Kiev regime for Western media, as was the case with the [fake news from the] Mariupol maternity clinic.”

The UN security council is set to meet on Tuesday.