Photo/Illutration Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy examines the site of a recent battle in Bucha close to Kyiv on April 4. (AP Photo)

Corpses with their hands tied behind their backs roughly tossed into a hole dug in the ground.

That is a scene from "Katyn," a 2007 Polish historical drama film directed by Andrzej Wajda (1926-2016), about a 1940 massacre perpetrated by Soviet forces in the Katyn forest in Poland during World War II.

More than 20,000 Poles were executed en masse, including Wajda's father, who was a military officer.

The Katyn massacre was kept under wraps in Poland for some years. No death notices were sent to the victims' bereaved families, and Wajda's mother was said to have waited for her husband's return even after the war had ended.

The Soviet Union reportedly aimed to nip any Polish resistance in the bud by eliminating the entire Polish intelligentsia, including medical doctors, lawyers, journalists and other civilians, in addition to military officers. 

Initially, the Soviets pinned the blame on Nazi Germany by claiming German guns were used for the executions.

It was not until 1990 after the end of the Cold War in 1989 that Moscow finally owned up to the crimes.

A Kyiv oblast in Ukraine is located a few hundred kilometers south of Katyn along the Dnieper River.

Images originating from there were recently shared by various media outlets.

They shocked me beyond words.

In the town of Bucha in the outskirts of Kyiv, where Ukrainian forces have retaken control from Russian forces, some of the bodies found were in civilian clothing with their hands tied behind their backs.

Images of corpses, piled up in the cargo space of a van, could have come right out of the film "Katyn."

Shortly after the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February, the Russian defense ministry declared to the effect, "High-precision weapons are being used to destroy military installations. Civilians will not be put in harm's way."

Confronted by the horrendous images from Bucha this time, the defense ministry retorted that the images were faked by Ukraine for the European and American media.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a memorial ceremony in Katyn in spring 2010. Kneeling before a memorial, Putin said, "There can be no justification for these crimes."

Wajda was also in attendance as a member of the Polish delegation.

Did Putin learn nothing from that ceremony?

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 5

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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