THE UK Government is being urged by the SNP to do more to support the International Criminal Court’s investigations into war crimes being committed by Russia in Ukraine.

Alyn Smith, the SNP foreign affairs spokesperson, wrote to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss encouraging her to provide further financial support to the court to back its work documenting, investigating and prosecuting war crime accusations.

In the communication, Smith writes that “we may even conclude that genocide is being committed against the people of Ukraine” – making the SNP the first party in the UK to make this suggestion publicly.

READ MORE: Ukraine accuses Russia of massacre as bodies found near Kyiv

The Stirling MP also called on Truss, who is currently in Poland, to provide an immediate update on the situation in Ukraine to MPs following the Easter break.

“The evidence coming to light of atrocities deliberately committed against civilians surely constitute war crimes,” Smith wrote.

“As more testimony and evidence come to light, and we must allow the proper authorities time and support to conclude their work, we may even conclude that genocide is being committed against the people of Ukraine.”

It came after US President Joe Biden called for a war crimes trial against Russian president Vladimir Putin and said he will seek more sanctions following the reported atrocities in Ukraine.

“You saw what happened in Bucha,” Biden said, describing Putin as a “war criminal”.

Biden’s comments to reporters came after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Bucha, one of the towns surrounding the capital Kyiv where Ukrainian officials say the bodies of civilians have been found.

The bodies of 410 civilians have been removed from Kyiv-area towns recently retaken from Russian forces, Ukraine’s prosecutor-general Iryna Venediktova said.

The National:

A boy looks at a destroyed Russian tank after recent battles in Bucha, close to Kyiv

Associated Press journalists saw the bodies of at least 21 people in various spots around Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

Zelensky called the Russian actions “genocide” and called for the West to apply tougher sanctions against Russia.

Biden, however, stopped short of calling the actions genocide.

The UK Government has also not gone as far as describing acts as genocide.

Despite this, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Times Radio on Sunday that if reports of men aged 18-60 being rounded up and killed in Bucha are correct, this would be genocide.

"Yes, if it’s true, it is," he told listeners. "We’re hearing these stories coming out all the time and quite clearly they’ll need to be properly evidenced and investigated."