UK PM Johnson: war in Ukraine 'stain on honour' of Russia

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has issued a direct appeal to the Russian people, urging them to seek the truth about the war.

In a video message, Johnson said Russians were being kept in the dark about the invasion of Ukraine because President Vladimir Putin “knows that if you could see what was happening, you would not support his war.”

Johnson said Russian authorities were hiding the truth of "sickening” slayings of civilians and other crimes, which “betray the trust of every Russian mother who proudly waves goodbye to her son as he heads off to join the military”, calling the war “a stain on the honour of Russia”.

Switching from English to Russian, Johnson said: “Your president stands accused of committing war crimes. But I cannot believe he's acting in your name.”

Slovenia, Romania join other countries in expelling Russian diplomats

Authorities in Romania said Tuesday that the country is expelling 10 diplomats from Russia’s embassy in Bucharest.

On Tuesday evening, the Slovenian government also stated that 33 Russian diplomats were being expelled after bodies were found in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where Kyiv has accused Russian forces of a massacre.

Romania’s foreign ministry said the actions of 10 embassy workers, who have been declared persona non grata, “contravene the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relationships.”

As of Tuesday, more than 200 Russian diplomats or employees had been expelled from at least a dozen countries, including Germany, France and Italy.

President Zelenskyy compares war in Ukraine to Guernica massacre

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday compared the war in Ukraine to the massacre in Guernica, a small town in the Spanish Basque Country bombed in 1937 by Nazi aircraft in support of Franco's troops during the Spanish Civil War.

"It's April 2022, but it feels like April 1937, when the world learned about what was happening in one of your cities, Guernica," Ukraine's president said in a live broadcast to the Spanish MPs.

Guernica was bombed by the German Condor Legion, ushering in the era of massive air raids on civilians. The event was immortalized by painter Pablo Picasso in one of the world's most famous canvases, which became an anti-war symbol.

Zelenskyy's address lasted about ten minutes and garnered applause from the deputies and government ministers afterwards.

“As President Zelenskyy said, we would never have thought that we would see images of bombardments and massacres of innocent civilian populations on European soil again,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.

Zelenskyy tells UN Russian military must be brought to justice

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the UN Security Council that the Russian military must be brought to justice immediately for war crimes.

In a video appearance Tuesday, Zelenskyy accused the Kremlin's troops of the worst atrocities since World War II and said they are no different from other terrorists like the Islamic State extremist group.

The Ukrainian leader made his plea as grisly evidence continued to emerge of civilian massacres carried out by Russian forces on the outskirts of Kyiv.

The images, particularly from the town of Bucha, have stirred global revulsion and led to demands for tougher sanctions and war crime prosecutions against Russia.

Zelenskyy showed the UN’s most powerful body brief video footage of bloody corpses that ended with the words “Stop Russian Aggression.”

Estonia and Lavtia expel Russian diplomats, close consulates 

Estonia and Latvia will close Russia’s consular missions in two cities each and expel a total of 27 Russian diplomats and employees currently stationed in the Baltic countries.

Estonia’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday the country decided to expel the staff of Russia’s consulates in the southern city of Tartu and border city of Narva and close the premises. The combined 14-member Russian staff, including 7 employees with diplomatic status, must leave the country by April 30, the ministry said.

The ministry’s undersecretary Mart Volmer said “there can be no talk of business as usual” with Moscow following allegations of atrocities against civilians in Ukrainian cities by Russian forces.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rincevics said in a tweet that Latvia will close Russian consulates in Daugavpils and Liepaja and expel 13 Russian diplomats and employees.

Daugavpils is Latvia’s second largest city situated close to the border with Belarus and Lithuania in southeastern Latvia, not very far from the Russian border, and Liepaja is a major port city.

(AP)

Spain and EU expel more Russian diplomats

Spain has become the latest EU country to expel Russian diplomats. 

Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said the group represents a threat to Spain’s security, and the timing of the expulsion “is a response to crimes that cannot go unpunished,” in a reference to what he said were “barbaric” Russian war crimes in Ukraine in recent days.

The complete list of who is to be asked to leave the country is being finalised and may amount to more than 25 people, Albares stated.

The European Union is also expelling Russian diplomats, deciding to declare "several" members of the Russian representation to the EU "persona non grata" because of "activities contrary" to their status as diplomats -- which is usually diplomatic code for spying. 

"The Russian ambassador was summoned today by the secretary general of the foreign action service to inform him of this decision," said EU High Representative Josep Borrell, although he didn't specify the number of Russian diplomats affected by this measure.

Blinken: "Deliberate campaign to kill, torture, rape"

The US Secretary of State says Russia had a "deliberate campaign to kill, torture, rape" in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where dozens of bodies of civilians were discovered after Kremlin forces withdrew from the area. 

Speaking to reporters before flying to Brussels to meet with European counterparts, Blinken said "What we saw in Bucha is not the isolated act of a rogue unit. It is a deliberate campaign to kill, torture, rape, commit atrocities." 

There has been widespread condemnation of the actions of Russian soldiers, as more evidence is catalogued in Bucha of what happened there. 

Russia denies its military took part in any killings of civilians. 

(Euronews, AFP)

Tuesday's key points:

• Satellite photographs released on Monday appear to rebut Russian assertions that dead bodies in civilian clothing found in Bucha had appeared there after Russian forces retreated from the devastated Ukrainian town. 
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who visited Bucha on Monday, will speak to the UN Security Council for the first time on Tuesday at a meeting certain to focus on what appear to be deliberate killings of civilians by Russian troops.
• Moscow has claimed the scenes were faked and says it will present evidence to the UN Security Council.
• Zelenskyy's spokesperson told Euronews there are fears that similar massacres could occur elsewhere as Russian troops retreat towards Belarus. Ukraine's prosecutor-general has said a “similar humanitarian situation” to Bucha exists in other areas where Russian forces recently left, such as around the northern cities of Sumy and Chernihiv.
• EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Josep Borrell will visit Kyiv this week to meet Zelenskyy, the Commission president's spokesman says.
• The EU, the UK and the US have promised further sanctions against Moscow in the wake of mounting evidence of Russian atrocities. 
• President Biden branded Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" on Monday and called for a "war crimes trial".
• Ukraine's latest daily military report suggests Russian forces are preparing for a major attack in eastern Ukraine. The city of Kramatorsk was bombarded overnight.
• Germany, France and Lithuania all took action on Monday to expel Russian diplomats, followed on Tuesday by Denmark, Italy, Spain and Sweden.
• Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said seven humanitarian corridors were to open on Tuesday from Mariupol and Berdyansk, addng that more than 1,550 civilians were evacuated from Mariupol on Monday.

New EU sanctions 'to hit Russian oil and coal', says France

The new sanctions under discussion within the European Union against Russia "will have to integrate oil and coal", the French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday during a visit to Berlin.

"We are working together, France and Germany, to define what this new package (of sanctions) could be, which will have to integrate Russian oil and coal", he said during a joint press conference with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock. "The modalities of their implementation are the subject of discussions today," he added.

However, a Spanish minister said on Tuesday it would be “very hard” for the EU to take measures against Russia’s natural gas sector because some of the bloc’s countries are dependent on it for their energy supply and the EU’s strength lies in its unity.

“It is very difficult to explain to European public opinion and Ukrainian society that we are still importing Russian energy that finances this war” in Ukraine, said Teresa Ribera, Spain’s minister for ecological transition.

The EU gets around 40% of its natural gas from Russia.

Ribera said the energy imports create “obvious moral tension,” adding that accusations of Russian war crimes in Bucha in recent days increased the pressure on the EU to act.

She said Spain should invest in industrial-scale solar power facilities to improve the EU’s energy self-sufficiency.

(with AFP, AP)

French prosecutors to investigate 'war crimes' in Ukraine

The French National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) announced on Tuesday that it had opened three new investigations for "war crimes" over acts committed against French nationals in Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

The facts referred to were allegedly committed in Mariupol between February 25 and March 16, in Hostomel in the Kyiv region between March 1 and 12, and in Chernihiv in the north since February 24, prosecutors said in a statement.

The suspects have yet to be identified. The prosecutors’ statement said the suspected crimes could include deliberate attacks against civilians and deliberately withholding the essentials they needed to survive, physical assaults, and the deliberate destruction of civilian installations.

The statement did not explain how investigators will go about their work or give details about the suspected French victims and what happened to them.

The investigations have been entrusted to the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity, Genocide and War Crimes (OCLCH).

French prosecutors already opened an investigation after the death of Pierre Zakrzewski, a Franco-Irish journalist, on March 14 near the Ukrainian capital.

French law allows prosecutors to investigate suspected war crimes committed outside of France if they involve French victims or suspects who are French or who reside in France.

(with AFP, AP)

Luhansk region in nitric acid scare after Russian attack

The governor of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region has urged residents to stay inside, shut windows and doors and prepare wet face masks after a Russian strike hit a tank containing nitric acid.

Serhiy Haidai said on the messaging app Telegram Tuesday that the incident occurred near the city of Rubizhne, which the Ukrainian military says the Russians have been trying to take over. He didn’t specify what area the warning applies to.

Haidai warned that nitric acid “is dangerous if inhaled, swallowed and in contact with skin and mucous membranes.” The Russian military has not commented on the claim, and it could not be verified independently.

(AP)

11 million have fled homes — UN migration agency

The UN migration agency now estimates that more than 11 million people have fled their homes in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion.

The International Organization for Migration, in its first such full assessment in three weeks, reported Tuesday that more than 7.1 million had been displaced within Ukraine as of April 1. That comes on top of the figure of more than 4 million who have fled abroad, reported by the UN refugee agency.

IOM said more than 2.9 million others are actively considering “leaving their place of habitual residence due to war.”

Ukraine had a pre-war population of 44 million.

The tally marked an increase from IOM’s tally in mid-March of more than 9.7 million displaced internally in Ukraine or driven abroad.

(AP)

Italy, Spain and Sweden also to expel Russian diplomats

Italy, Spain and Sweden in turn expelled dozens of Russian diplomats on Tuesday, marking a further deterioration in relations with Moscow after the discovery of civilian massacres attributed to Russian forces near Kyiv .

Italy has decided to expel 30 Russian diplomats for "national security" reasons in the light of Russia's "unjustified aggression of Ukraine", Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said during a visit to Berlin.

Spain has in turn decided to expel "immediately" around 25 Russian diplomats who posed a "threat to the interests" of the country, the foreign minister announced on Tuesday.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde also announced the expulsion of three Russian diplomats. Last month, Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency, SAPO, said that “every third Russian diplomat in Sweden is an intelligence officer”.

Earlier in the day Denmark said it was expelling 15 diplomats. (see earlier post)

These countries follow France and Germany who said on Monday that they were expelling Russian diplomats amid the outcry over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and in particular the recent discoveries in Bucha which appear to show civilians having been massacred by Russian troops.

Lithuania has said it is expelling the Russian ambassador to the country, while in late March Belgium, the Netherlands and before them Poland all moved to kick Russian diplomats out of the country.

According to a tally by AFP, EU countries have moved to expel some 233 Russians since the start of the invasion, 150 of them in the past 48 hours.

On Tuesday Moscow denounced a "lack of foresight" on the part of the Europeans.

"We regret it. The reduction in the possibilities of communicating at the diplomatic level in these difficult conditions" denotes a "lack of foresight which will further complicate the communication needed  to find solutions", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“And that will inevitably lead to retaliatory measures,” he added.

(Euronews with AFP)

Japan's foreign minister brings 20 Ukrainians on official plane

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi returned to Tokyo on Tuesday with 20 Ukrainians on board his official plane. 

The group fled their homeland after the Russian invasion, and had contacted Japanese embassies in Ukraine and Poland looking for help, but had difficulties arranging their own transportation to Japan. 

The Ukrainians will now go to their onward destinations -- some to towns where their relatives are already living, while others will go to government facilities.

Foreign Minister Hayashi has been on a visit to Poland where he visited Ukrainian refugees and held talks with Polish officials on how Japan can provide support. 

“As I observed the severe situation faced by Ukrainians who were forced to flee their country because of the Russian invasion, I have renewed my resolve that Japan should cooperate with international society and provide the utmost assistance so they can return to ordinary lives as soon as possible” Hayashi told reporters.

Japan has an extremely strict refugee policy and has been reluctant to fully accept migrant workers, making its offer to accept Ukrainians unusual. However, the government has carefully called them evacuees and it is still unclear if the Ukrainian situation will change its immigration policy.

Tokyo expects the 20 evacuees will stay in Japan for at least six months, and will provide further support if needed, said Deputy Justice Minister Jun Tsushima, who was traveling with Hayashi.

Tokyo has previously accepted about 300 other Ukrainians, all relatives of about 2,000 Ukrainian residents in Japan who arrived on their own since the Russian invasion began.

Foreign Ministry officials have said most Ukrainian war-displaced have ties to Europe and they hope to return when the situation allows, indicating Japan is not treating them as refugees seeking permanent residency and protection.

(AP)

UN: Everything points to Ukrainian civilians deliberately targeted 

The images emerging from the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where dozens of bodies were discovered after the withdrawal of Russian forces "point to deliberately targeted civilians" according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

"All signs point to the fact that the victims were deliberately targeted and killed directly. And this evidence is very disturbing," said spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell on Tuesday during a regular UN press briefing in Geneva.

Sh stressed that international humanitarian law prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians, which amount to a war crime.

"We have to investigate, but if we can understand that a building, for example, is hit in a military context, it is difficult to imagine what would be the military context of an individual lying in the street with a bullet in the head or 'to have their bodies burned,' she said.

The High Commission doesn't currently have any staff on the ground in Bucha.

Ukraine accuses Russian soldiers of having massacred civilians, something which Moscow categorically denies, and says Ukrainian authorities of staging the scene.

(AFP)

Putin ally has yacht seized in Mallorca

Billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, an oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin, has had his yacht seized in Spain as part of sanctions imposed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On Monday Euronews reported that US federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard had searched the vessel.

Read the full updated story here:

Putin ally Vekselberg has luxury yacht seized in Spain, say police

The 78-metre yacht, called Tango, is thought to be worth €109 million.

EU's Von der Leyen and Borrell to visit Kyiv this week to meet Zelenskyy

The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell will visit Kyiv to meet the Ukrainian president this week, von der Leyen's spokesman has said on Twitter.

Russian murders of civilians 'may be much higher' — Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will address the UN Security Council on Tuesday and has predicted even worse discoveries of the mass killing of civilians by Russian troops.

Tuesday's Security Council session is to consider Ukrainian allegations of the murder of civilians by Russian soldiers in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, following the discovery of hundreds of bodies, some bound and shot at close range.

The Ukrainian leader has already spoken by video link to more than a dozen assemblies -- including the US Congress, the British parliament and the European Parliament.

"I would like to emphasise that we are interested in the most complete, transparent investigation, the results of which will be known and explained to the entire international community," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address in the early hours on Tuesday.

In Bucha, where mass graves and bodies were found after Ukraine took the town back from Russian forces, at least 300 civilians had been killed, Zelenskyy said.

"And this is only one town: one of many Ukrainian communities which the Russian forces managed to capture," he said. "Now, there is information that in Borodyanka and some other liberated Ukrainian towns, the number of casualties of the occupiers may be even much higher."

He called for "thousands of journalists" to "let the world see what Russia has done" in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions further north and east, as well as around Kyiv.

He said Russian forces did not conceal what happened in Bucha but could well do so in other places they had occupied.

(with Reuters)

Denmark to expel 15 Russian diplomats

Denmark will expel 15 Russian diplomats for spying, Denmark's foreign minister announced on Tuesday, a day after Russian diplomats were expelled from France and Germany for similar reasons.

"We have established that the 15 expelled intelligence agents carried out espionage activities on Danish soil," Jeppe Kofod told reporters, saying he wanted to "send a clear signal to Russia: espionage on Danish soil is unacceptable".

(AFP)

Seven humanitarian corridors open on Tuesday — Ukraine deputy PM

Seven humanitarian corridors will be open on Tuesday, including from the besieged port city of Mariupol and the Russian-controlled Berdyansk, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on the messaging app Telegram.

According to Vereshchuk’s post, residents of Mariupol and Berdyansk will be able to leave to Zaporizhzhia on their own transport. Corridors will also be open from the city of Tokmak in the Zaporizhzhia region and cities of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna and Hirske in the Luhansk region.

Vereshchuk said in the same post that the Russian troops “don’t allow anyone to enter Mariupol,” and that the Russians “blocked the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross” in the settlement of Manhush just west of Mariupol.

Vereshchuk said that, after negotiations, the Red Cross representatives “were released at night and sent to Zaporizhzhia.” (see earlier post)

It was not immediately clear from Vereshchuk’s statement whether Russia has agreed to halt the fighting along the announced corridors. Some of the Ukrainian efforts to evacuate civilians via humanitarian corridors had previously failed as fighting along them continued even despite agreements with Russia.

Vereshchuk said more than 1,550 civilians were evacuated from Mariupol on Monday.

(AP)

Airbnb suspends operations in Russia and Belarus

The home rental company made the announcement late on Monday in a statement on its website.

"New reservations cannot be made for stays or Experiences in Russia or Belarus, and guests located in both countries will no longer be able to make new reservations anywhere in the world," it said.

Reservations in Russia and Belarus starting on or after Monday (April 4) have been cancelled.

The move had been announced by Airbnb's CEO Brian Chesky in early March.

(with Reuters) 

ICRC team freed after being held near Mariupol

The International Committee of the Red Cross team "was released overnight" after being detained by police on Monday in an area controlled by Russian troops near Mariupol, an ICRC spokesman said on Tuesday.

The team, which had been arrested in Mangush 20 kilometres west of Mariupol, "is now focused on continuing humanitarian evacuation operations", the spokesman said, adding that this incident "shows the volatility and the complexity" of this operation.

Later the ICRC said it was shelving plans to reach Mariupol on Tuesday. The team was “not planning on trying to enter Mariupol today. Our team’s humanitarian efforts today are focused on helping the evacuation efforts in nearby areas,” said Jason Straziuso, an ICRC spokesman. "Our team’s humanitarian efforts today are focused on helping the evacuation efforts in nearby areas."

This team has been trying since Friday to reach Mariupol, the large port city besieged and bombarded for weeks by the Russian army, to facilitate the evacuation of civilians.

Russia and Ukraine have for several days been rejecting responsibility for the difficulties encountered in the evacuations from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, more than 200 km to the west.

Mariupol is "90%" destroyed and "40% of its infrastructure" is "unrecoverable", its mayor Vadim Boichenko announced on Monday.

According to him, "about 130,000 inhabitants" are still stuck in the city, which before the war had nearly half a million people.

(AFP)

Re-deployed Russian forces 'likely to need significant re-supplying'

The latest daily bulletin on the war from UK military intelligence says Ukrainian forces have "retaken key territory" in northern Ukraine. Low-level fighting is likely in newly-captured areas but this is expected to diminish, it says.

Many Russian units withdrawing from the north are likely to need significant re-equipping and refurbishment before being operational in the east, the bulletin adds.

Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine hit by Russian bombardments 

Several bombings overnight hit this large eastern city which is controlled by Kyiv but is under the threat of an offensive by Russian troops.

An AFP journalist reported that the attack, probably using missiles or long-range rockets, destroyed a school in the city centre, close to a police station, around 3 am local time.

In the early morning, a smoking crater about ten metres in diameter was visible in the schoolyard, which was partly collapsed. Many windows were blown out but residents reported no casualties as the school was apparently empty.

There's been no official report into the attack.

Since Russia withdrew its troops from the regions of Kyiv and central northern areas of the country and announced that it wanted to "concentrate its efforts on the liberation of Donbas", this historic mining basin has been living in fear of a major Russian offensive. 

The Ukrainian government has said it expects the situation in this region to worsen as Russian forces try to outflank the Ukrainian army, which has been deployed since 2014 on a front line bordering Donetsk in the south and Luhansk in the east -- both self-proclaimed capitals of two pro-Russian separatist "republics" -- and which now extends to Izium, recently conquered in the northwest.

Kramatorsk, in effect the capital of Ukrainian-controlled territory in this part of the country since 2014, is right in the centre of this strategically crucial area and would then find itself surrounded.

Hundreds of displaced Ukrainians were on Monday continuing attempts to flee to the west from the east of the country, packing onto crowded trains and waiting in traffic on gridlocked highways. Military checkpoints are said to be overwhelmed.

According to the Ukrainian rail company, 3,100 people were evacuated on Monday but the trains were interrupted Tuesday morning due to the overnight shelling, as the railways have to be inspected. 

(Euronews with AP, AFP)

Russia planning eastern offensive — Ukrainian military

Russian forces on Tuesday were preparing for an offensive in Ukraine’s east, the Ukrainian military said in its latest assessment.

Vladimir Putin’s government is pouring soldiers into Ukraine’s east to gain control of the industrial heartland known as the Donbas. That follows a Russian withdrawal from towns around the capital, Kyiv, which led to the discovery of corpses, prompting accusations of war crimes and demands for tougher sanctions on Moscow.

Russian forces are focused on seizing the cities of Popasna and Rubizhne in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the Black Sea port of Mariupol, Ukraine's General Staff said on its Facebook page. Donetsk and Luhansk are controlled by Russian-backed separatists and recognized by Moscow as independent states. The General Staff said access to Kharkiv in the east, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was blocked.

“The enemy is regrouping troops and concentrating its efforts on preparing an offensive operation in the east of our country," the statement said. “The goal is to establish full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions."

(with AP)

'We failed' on Russia policy, admits Germany's president

Germany’s president is admitting mistakes in policy toward Russia in his previous job as foreign minister.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier served twice as ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s foreign minister, most recently from 2013 to 2017, and before that as ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s chief of staff. In that time, Germany pursued dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin and cultivated close energy ties.

Steinmeier told ZDF television Tuesday that “we failed on many points,” including efforts to encourage Russia toward democracy and respecting human rights.

The president conceded that “there were different assessments” of Russia among European countries. He added: “It is true that we should have taken the warnings of our eastern European partners more seriously, particularly regarding the time after 2014” and the building of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Sticking to that project was a mistake that cost Germany “a lot of credit and credibility” in eastern Europe, he said. Chancellor Olaf Scholz suspended the pipeline  in the week Russia invaded Ukraine.

However, former Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her refusal in 2008 to initiate the process of admitting Ukraine to NATO in response to criticism from current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Merkel, who left politics at the end of 2021, said in a short statement published by her spokesperson that she "assumes her decisions from the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest".

In a video statement on Sunday night, the Ukrainian president singled out Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy over NATO's "refusal" to accept Ukraine into the military alliance.

He said he invited both of them to visit Bucha and "see what the policy of concessions to Russia has led to in 14 years".

(Euronews with AP, AFP)

What does Russia say about the Bucha atrocities?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday described the evidence of civilian bodies discovered in the town as a “stage-managed anti-Russian provocation”.

He charged that the mayor of Bucha made no mention of atrocities against civilians a day after Russian troops left Bucha, but two days later scores of bodies were photographed scattered in the streets.

But satellite photos appear to show that the bodies were visible before the Russian departure. Moscow claims they left on March 30 but there is evidence to show there was still a Russian presence as late as April 1 (see separate post).

On Monday Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko accused Lavrov of lying.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the images contained “signs of video forgery and various fakes”, without producing any evidence.

Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, accused Ukraine and the West on Monday of “a false flag attempt” to blame Russian troops for atrocities in Bucha that he charged were committed by Ukrainian nationalists. He called video of bodies lying in the streets “a crude forgery,” and insisted that during the time that Bucha was under Russian control, “not a single local person has suffered from any violent action”.

At a news conference, the Russian ambassador showed brief video footage of the smiling mayor of Bucha on March 31 calling the withdrawal of Russian forces a victory of the Ukrainian army and never mentioning “any mass atrocities, dead bodies, killings, graves or anything like that.” He also showed footage from Ukrainian television on April 2 showing Ukrainian soldiers entering Bucha, with “no dead bodies in the streets.”

He said Russia would present further "factual evidence” to the Security Council on Tuesday.

Russia has a long history of outright denial in the face of accusations of improper conduct, whatever the evidence.

(Euronews with AP)

Zelenskyy addresses Romanian parliament

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Romania’s parliament Monday evening in a video call in which the leader said had Ukraine not defended itself, Russia would have carried out atrocities like that of Bucha “all over Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy, who visited the town of Bucha on Monday to see the alleged crimes of Russia’s forces against Ukrainian civilians, shared grim video footage during his address that showed areas strewn with dead bodies. The Bucha killings — which Zelenskyy labeled a “genocide” — have become the center of worldwide outrage against Russia.

“The military tortured people and we have every reason to believe that there are many more people killed,” Zelenskyy said. “Much more than we know now.”

The Ukrainian leader also called for tougher sanctions, saying “Russia must be deprived of all resources, primarily economic” and said that the fate of the region will be decided by the outcome of the war in Ukraine.

Before the Ukrainian leader’s address, the president of Romania’s Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, said the last few days “have shown us horrible images that have overwhelmed and revolted us all.”

“I support a speedy investigation by the International Criminal Court,” Ciolacu said.

(AP)

Over 1,500 evacuated from Mariupol on Monday — Ukraine deputy PM

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says more than 1,550 civilians were evacuated on Monday from the besieged port of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine.

Vereshchuk said a total of 2,405 people were evacuated along a humanitarian corridor route running from Mariupol to the Ukraine-held city of Zaporizhzhia, with 1,553 of those coming from Mariupol itself and the rest from other locations in the heavily contested area.

She said the people used the dwindling number of private vehicles left in the area to get out of Mariupol and that a convoy of seven buses sent to help remained unable to enter the city to collect people.

Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, is a key Russian military objective that has faced horrific bombardment.

Vereshchuk added that 971 other people were evacuated from five locations in the eastern Luhansk region, where Russia is now focusing much of its military efforts. She accused Russia of “systematically breaching” a local cease-fire planned to facilitate evacuations there.

(AP)

Russia vows to respond in kind over diplomatic expulsions

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says the country feels no impact from the expulsion of its diplomats by various European countries, and indicates Russia will respond in kind.

Medvedev was Russia's president from 2008 through 2012 and is now deputy chairman of the security council under President Vladimir Putin. Writing on the messaging app Telegram, Medvedev says that “everyone knows the response: it will be symmetrical and destructive for bilateral relations.”

His comments came after Germany expelled 40 Russian diplomats Monday and Lithuania expelled the Russian ambassador and said it would recall its envoy in Moscow. France on Monday also announced it will expel “numerous” Russian diplomats.

(AP)

Ukraine prosecutor-general fears civilian catastrophe in Sumy, Chernihiv and Borodyanka

Ukrainian prosecutor-general Iryna Venediktova told Ukrainian TV on Monday that a “similar humanitarian situation” to Bucha exists in other parts of the country where Russian forces recently left, such as the areas around the northern cities of Sumy and Chernihiv.

Ukrainian authorities said the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been found in areas outside the Ukrainian capital, including Bucha, after last week’s withdrawal of Russian troops, many with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture.

She also said the situation in Borodyanka, which is further from Kyiv and was also held by Russian forces until recently, may be even worse.

Venediktova didn’t specify what exactly had happened in Borodyanka but said “the worst situation in terms of the victims” is there.

(AP)

Fears of further Russian massacres of civilians

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bucha on Monday and denounced the murder of civilians.

"In the houses, in the apartments...many corpses remain", Sergii Nykyforov, Ukraine's presidential spokesperson told Euronews after his visit with the president to the liberated town.

There are also fears that, as Russian troops retreat towards the Belarus border, similar massacres could occur in other towns on the way. "There are some other towns and cities that are further from Kyiv to the north and we are afraid that there, we'll find something similar", Nykyforov said.

Read the article and watch the interview with Zelenskyy's spokesperson in the video player:

Fears over more civilian massacres as Russian troops retreat north

Ukraine's presidential spokesperson says the extent of carnage in Bucha is still unclear as fears of more civilian killings grow amid Russian retreat

Zelenskyy to address UN Security Council

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will speak to the UN Security Council for the first time Tuesday at a meeting certain to focus on what appear to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine by Russian troops.

The UK, which holds the council presidency this month, announced late Monday that Zelenskyy would speak at the open meeting.

Zelenskyy is to address the UN’s most powerful body virtually after it receives briefings from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, his political chief Rosemary DiCarlo, and UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, who is trying to arrange an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and met with senior Russian officials in Moscow on Monday and will shortly be heading to Ukraine.

Britain’s UN ambassador says the Security Council meeting is certain to focus “front and centre” on the killing of large numbers of civilians in Ukraine.

UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward said Britain didn’t grant Russia’s request for a meeting on the situation in Bucha on Monday because “we didn’t see a good reason to have two meetings back to back on Ukraine.”

Woodward said that “the images that we saw coming out of Bucha over the weekend were harrowing, appalling, probable evidence of war crimes and possibly a genocide."

(AP)

Satellite photos undermine Russian denials of atrocities

Satellite images released by Maxar Technologies on April 4, 2022 show views of streets in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv in Ukraine.

The photos taken on March 31 seem to show bodies lying in the streets, before Russian forces retreated from the devastated Ukrainian town.

They give the lie to Russian assertions that dead bodies in civilian clothing found in Bucha had appeared there afterwards.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the images contained “signs of video forgery and various fakes”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the scenes outside Kyiv as a “stage-managed anti-Russian provocation,” prompting one Ukrainian MP to accuse him of lying.

The Russian government and pro-Kremlin media have claimed that Russian troops left Bucha on March 30, and that the bodies were first documented only on April 3.

But on April 1, Russian media outlet Zvezda TV reported that Russian marines were still carrying out operations in areas including Bucha. The Irpin-Bucha-Hostomel Telegram channel published video showing bodies in the streets, also on April 1. The same day, a Kyiv regional authority report listed the town as among the most dangerous areas due to the presence of Russian forces. The BBC reported on April 1 that at least 20 bodies were seen lying in the street as Ukrainian military entered the town. A Ukrainian military report on March 31 said Bucha was still under Russian control. 

Independent journalists have seen, filmed and photographed the bodies found in Bucha and elsewhere, some in areas occupied by Russian forces only hours before. The investigative site Bellingcat and the US think tank the Atlantic Council have published detailed fact-checks contesting the Russian claims.

On Monday Associated Press journalists in Bucha counted dozens of corpses in civilian clothes and apparently without weapons, many shot at close range, and some with their hands bound or their flesh burned.

(with AFP, AP)

Good morning, this is Alasdair Sandford with the latest updates from the war in Ukraine following Russia's invasion.