In the Ukrainian city of Bucha, 25 kilometers north-west of the capital Kyiv, a scene of horror unfolds after the retreat of the Russian army.
(Photo: dpa)
Düsseldorf Ukraine has accused Russian troops of atrocities against civilians and reported scenes of horror in Kiev suburbs. After a partial Russian withdrawal, the bodies of 410 civilians were discovered around the capital, said Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova. Ukrainian soldiers and reporters from the AP news agency found the dead with their hands tied, gunshot wounds to the head and signs of torture.
President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of a genocide and warned that as Russian troops recaptured other areas, further atrocities could be revealed. Other regions of the country are still under Russian control. “More deaths and abuse” could become known there, said Selenski. The President also switched to the Grammy Awards ceremony via video and asked for support for his country. “Support us in any way you can,” he said at the event, which was televised live on US television.
Zelenskiy invited former Chancellor Angela Merkel to a trip to Bucha. Selenski said in a video message that Merkel, like former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, could get a picture of her failed Russia policy in recent years.
The reports and images from affected locations made international calls for even tougher sanctions against Russia louder. The Defense Ministry in Moscow has rejected allegations of atrocities against civilians in the Kyiv area.
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Attorney General’s Office: Bodies are being autopsied
Authorities in Ukraine said they were documenting evidence to prosecute Russian war crimes officials. To convict them, prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) will need to demonstrate a pattern of atrocities against civilians during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, 140 of the 410 bodies recovered so far from the Kyiv region have been autopsied since Friday. In addition, more than 50 employees of the public prosecutor’s office and the national police started investigations into the crimes in the Bucha area. There should also be investigations in other regions.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for tougher sanctions against Russia over mounting evidence of atrocities committed against civilians. He spoke of a massacre of civilians. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office announced investigations. “This is a hell that must be documented so that the monsters who created it can be punished,” Venediktova wrote on Facebook.
The Vice-President of the European Parliament, Nicola Beer, calls for a “special war criminals tribunal similar to the Yugoslav wars” against those responsible. “The monstrosity of these acts is incomprehensible to all of us,” said the FDP politician on Bild-TV. “These are the most serious crimes against humanity, these are war crimes.”
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda tweeted about the crimes in Bucha: “Criminals must be called criminals, brought to justice and sentenced.” The images from the city belied the assumption “that we must seek a compromise at all costs.” He demanded ” Guns, Guns and More Guns” for Ukraine.
“Attacks on innocent civilians and civilian infrastructure are war crimes,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison tweeted on Monday. “Russia must and will be held accountable for the actions of its armed forces.”
In the city of Kharkiv, the Russian army attacks civilian homes.
(Photo: dpa)
Dead and injured in Kharkiv
Meanwhile, according to Ukrainian sources, 34 people were injured by Russian fire in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. At least seven people were killed, the region’s prosecutor’s office wrote on Telegram. Three children were among the injured.
An airstrike is said to have taken place in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil. According to the mayor there, 70 percent of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv has now been destroyed.
Meanwhile, Russia confirmed several airstrikes on military installations and fuel depots in Kyiv and Mykolayiv regions. A control center of the air force base was destroyed in Vasylkiv, not far from Kyiv, said the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, Igor Konashenkov.
Ukraine: Russian troops withdraw from Sumy region
Russian troops are said to have started withdrawing from the eastern Ukrainian region of Sumy. However, it is still too early to speak of a liberation of the region, said the head of the Sumy regional administration, Dmytro Schywyzkyj, according to the Unian agency in a video message on Monday night.
The Ukrainian port of Mariupol is “most likely” a key target of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to British military intelligence. By taking the city, which is still heavily contested, a direct land connection could be established between Russia and the occupied Crimean peninsula, according to an update from the British Ministry of Defense on Monday night, citing intelligence information.
Russia’s only connection from the mainland to the peninsula is a bridge across the Kerch Strait. Mariupol remains the target of “intense and indiscriminate” attacks.
Other recent reports on the war:
Thousands manage to escape from embattled cities
According to Ukrainian information, more than 2,600 people were brought to safety on Sunday from particularly hard-fought Ukrainian cities. Of the 2,694 people, almost 1,500 were rescued from the Luhansk region, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, according to the Ukrajinska Pravda newspaper.
The Ukrainian general staff expects increased attacks on Donetsk and the village of Tavrycheske in the east of the country. He also announced on Monday night that Russia was moving individual units from Belarus to Russia.
Economics Minister Habeck announces speedy further sanctions
According to Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck, further EU sanctions against Russia will come this week. The fifth package of sanctions could include measures “in the whole range of personal sanctions against other people from the Putin regime over technical goods; we will also look at the financial market again,” he said on ZDF.
More: “This Is Genocide”: Shocked Reactions to Russia’s Alleged War Crimes
With agency material