There is fresh hope that Vladimir Putin can actually pay for his war crimes in Ukraine

Whether Vladimir Putin ends up before an international court depends to a large extent on how the Ukrainian conflict ends. Photo: Getty Images

Con Coughlin
© Telegraph Media Group Limited

With every inch of Ukrainian soil that is reclaimed from Russian occupation, fresh evidence emerges of the appalling war crimes the Russians have inflicted on Ukraine’s civilian population.

In the earliest days of the conflict back in March, when Russian troops were forced into a humiliating retreat from their attempts to capture Kyiv, grim details emerged of atrocities in Bucha that included massacres of unarmed civilians, torture, looting and rape.