Ukraine on Monday condemned Angela Merkel’s “policy of concessions” to Moscow as Western leaders faced mounting pressure to impose tougher sanctions on Russia.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said the former German chancellor’s refusal to let Ukraine join Nato in 2008 had ultimately led to the atrocities discovered on the outskirts of Kyiv.

The scathing criticism came amid a chorus of Western condemnation for the alleged genocide and an attempt by the European Union to ratchet up economic sanctions on the Kremlin.

Germany, France, Austria and Hungary were all accused of standing in the way of a draconian embargo on Russian gas imports, seen as the most effective tool to starve Vladimir Putin’s war machine of funds.

Berlin and Paris, the bloc’s most influential capitals, were said to be more concerned about their pandemic-stricken economies than the death and suffering of Ukrainians at the hands of Russian troops.

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In 2008, European leaders, including Ms Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, rejected Kyiv’s Nato membership bid, instead opting to forge close business ties with Moscow in the hope of dampening Putin’s imperialist ambitions.

“I invite Ms Merkel and Mr Sarkozy to visit Bucha and see what the policy of concessions to Russia has led to in 14 years,” Mr Zelensky said in a speech on Sunday night.

“They thought that, by refusing Ukraine, they would be able to appease Russia. Now we are fighting for our lives in the most horrific war in Europe since World War Two.”

Read more: The Telegraph