LONDON: The sight of tied bodies shot at close range in the Ukrainian streets of Bucha do not “look far short of genocide,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday.

The deaths in Bucha, outside Kyiv, have triggered a globaloutcry and pledges of further sanctions against Russia from the West.

“When you look at what’s happening in Bucha, the revelationsthat we are seeing from what (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has done in Ukraine, which doesn’t look far short of genocide to me, it is no wonder that people are responding in the way that they are,” he told reporters.

US, allies ready new Russia sanctions after Bucha killings

“And I have no doubt that the international community -Britain very much in the front rank - will be moving again inlockstep to impose more sanctions and more penalties on Vladimir Putin’s regime.”

British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said earlier on Wednesday that the world must act to stop the mass murder in Ukraine, comparing reports of civilian killings by Russiantroops to a 1995 genocide in Bosnia.