Russia-Ukraine Crisis Highlights: Bodies in Bucha 'raise serious questions about possible war crimes', UN says

Ukraine has regained control of "the whole Kyiv region" after invading Russian forces retreated from some key towns near the Ukrainian capital. Over 300 people have been buried in mass graves in Bucha, a commuter town outside Kyiv. The Red Cross heads to the besieged southern port of Mariupol for a fresh evacuation effort after it was forced to turn back Friday.

Some civilians killed, 23 wounded in shelling in Kharkiv on Sunday, says regional governor

Bodies in Bucha 'raise serious questions about possible war crimes': UN

The United Nations said Sunday that the discovery of mass graves in Bucha, near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, raised serious questions about possible war crimes, and stressed the importance of preserving all the evidence.

"What is known to date clearly raises serious and disturbing questions about possible war crimes and grave violations of international humanitarian law," the UN rights office said. - AFP.

Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz vows new sanctions over Russia 'war crimes'

Germany will draw up new sanctions with allies against Russia over the "war crimes" committed by Russian troops in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, said Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday.

"The murder of civilians is a war crime, and we must relentlessly investigate these crimes committed by the Russian armed forces," he said.

"In the coming days, we will decide with our circle of allies on further measures. (Russian) President (Vladimmir) Putin and his supporters will feel the consequences." - AFP.

US to send more aid as Moldova embraces Ukraine war refugees

The United States will give Moldova $50 million to help it cope with the impacts of Russia's war against Ukraine, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during a visit to the former Soviet republic on Sunday.

She said the funding would support programs, training and equipment for border management, efforts to counter human trafficking, help to improve accountability and transparency in the justice sector, and combat corruption and cybercrime.

Nearly 400,000 refugees have already fled Ukraine through Moldova, with about a quarter remaining in the country. - Reuters.

UK stepping up sanctions and military support for Ukraine, PM Johnson says

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said "despicable attacks against civilians" in Bucha and Irpin near Kyiv were evidence that Russia was committing war crimes in Ukraine, and that Britain would step up sanctions and military aid in response.

"I will do everything in my power to starve (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's war machine," Johnson said in a statement on Sunday.

"We are stepping up our sanctions and military support, as well as bolstering our humanitarian support package to help those in need on the ground." - Reuters.

Ukrainian prosecutors say 410 bodies found in towns near Kyiv

Ukrainian prosecutors investigating possible war crimes by Russia have found 410 bodies in towns near Kyiv and 140 of them had been examined, Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova said on television on Sunday.

Russia denied allegations that its forces killed civilians in the town of Bucha near Kyiv. - Reuters.

Polish foreign minister calls for investigation of Russian army's actions in Kyiv region

Poland's foreign minister called on Sunday for the international community to help Ukraine investigate the actions of the Russian army in the region around Kyiv, as outrage grew over the discovery of dead bodies in the town of Bucha.

"The liberation of the Kyiv region reveals barbaric atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces," Zbigniew Rau, who is also chairman-in-office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for this year, said on Twitter.

"I urge @OSCE participating states and the international community to assist Ukraine in ensuring that these crimes are properly investigated." - Reuters.

Over half a million people have returned to Ukraine: official

More than half a million people have returned to Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion in February, the Ukrainian interior ministry said on Sunday.

"During the past week, 144,000 people left Ukraine and 88,000 arrived. In total... around 537,000 of our compatriots have returned to Ukraine," the ministry said, citing data from the national border service. - AFP.

Russia denies killing civilians in Bucha

Russia on Sunday denied Ukrainian allegations that it had killed civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.

Russia's defence ministry said in a statement that footage and photographs showing dead bodies were "yet another provocation."

The ministry added that all Russian military units had left the town on March 30. - Reuters.

Ukraine says Russian missile attack hit air command centre in town near Kyiv

Ukraine's military said on Sunday that Russia launched a missile attack on the town of Vasylkiv about 50 kms from Kyiv and hit an air command centre that had already been destroyed and injured some civilians in a nearby college. - Reuters.

Zelenskyy says anyone responsible for Russian crimes in Ukraine should be punished, including those who gave orders

Ukraine documents atrocities by retreating Russians

Ukrainian troops are finding brutalised bodies and widespread destruction in suburbs of the capital as Russian soldiers withdraw and Moscow focuses its attacks elsewhere, including missile strikes Sunday that targeted fuel and ammunition supplies in southern and eastern Ukraine.

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Russia 'must answer for crimes' in Ukraine: Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Sunday the "unbearable" images of murdered civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha and said Russian authorities "must answer for these crimes".

"On the streets, hundreds of civilians cowardly murdered," Macron wrote on Twitter, in reference to the town outside Kyiv from which Russian forces recently withdrew. - AFP.

Zelenskyy says Russian forces committing 'genocide'

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview due to air in the US Sunday that Russian forces are committing genocide in Ukraine.

"This is genocide. The elimination of the whole nation and the people," Zelenskyy told the CBS program Face the Nation, according to a transcript provided by the network, a day after new evidence of atrocities by Russian invasion forces emerged.

"We are the citizens of Ukraine. We have more than 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities," Zelenskyy said. - AFP.

Russia has shown no effort to be discriminating in Ukraine airstrikes, Pentagon says

Russia has shown no effort to be discriminating in its airstrikes on Ukraine, US Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Fox News on Sunday. - Reuters.

Blinken calls civilian killings in Bucha 'a punch to the gut'

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the sight of multiple civilian bodies strewn along the streets of Bucha in Ukraine is "punch to the gut."

"You can't help but see these images as a punch to the gut," Blinken told CNN a day after horrific footage was widely aired of the town retaken from Russian forces.

"This is the reality of what's going on every single day as long as Russia's brutality against Ukraine continues," Blinken said. - AFP.

NATO chief says not 'too optimistic' on Russian military de-escalation in Ukraine

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday he was not "too optimistic" about Russia's claim to be pulling troops away from Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

"What we see is not a withdrawal, but we see that Russia is repositioning its troops," he told CNN.

"We should not in a way be too optimistic because the attacks will continue and we are also concerned about potential increased attacks," Stoltenberg said. - AFP.

57 people buried in mass grave in Bucha

Fifty-seven people were buried in a mass grave in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv recently retaken by Ukrainian forces from Russian troops, a local official said Sunday as he showed AFP the slit trench where the bodies lay.

"Here in this long grave, 57 people are buried," said Serhii Kaplychnyi, who identified himself as head of the rescue services in Bucha and who was organising the recovery of the bodies.

The mass grave is behind a church in the town's centre. Some of the bodies were either unburied or partially buried in the earth. - AFP.

France condemns 'massive abuses' committed by Russian forces in Ukraine

French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Sunday that he firmly condemned what he called the "massive abuses" committed by Russian forces" in Ukraine in the recent weeks.

Le Drian mentioned in particular the town of Bucha outside Kyiv, where Ukrainian authorities say a deliberate "massacre" was carried out by Russia.

Le Drian added in the same statement that such abuses would constitute war crimes and that France will work with Ukrainian authorities and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to put on trial those responsible for these abuses. - Reuters.

Ukraine demands new Russia sanctions over 'massacre'

Ukraine's foreign minister called on the G7 on Sunday to impose "devastating" new sanctions on Moscow and accused Russia of carrying out a deliberate "massacre" in the town of Bucha outside Kyiv.

Ukraine said on Saturday its forces had retaken all areas around Kyiv and the mayor in Bucha, a liberated town 37 km (23 miles) northwest of the capital, said that 300 residents had been killed by the Russian army.

"We are still gathering and looking for bodies, but the number has already gone into the hundreds," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, according to his ministry. - Reuters.

Rouble-for-gas payment scheme is a 'prototype', Kremlin says

President Vladimir Putin's rouble payment scheme for natural gas is the prototype that the world's largest country will extend to other major exports because the West has sealed the decline of the US dollar by freezing Russian assets, the Kremlin said.

"It is the prototype of the system," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia's Channel One state television about the rouble for gas payment system.

"I have no doubt that it will be extended to new groups of goods," Peskov said. He gave no time frame for such a move. - Reuters.

Kremlin says 'impossible' to fully isolate Russia

The Kremlin said Sunday it is not possible to completely isolate Russia as the West continues piling sanctions on Moscow over its military operation in Ukraine.

"There can be no complete vacuum or isolation of Russia, it is technologically impossible in the modern world," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state TV.

The world is "much larger than Europe", he said, adding: "Sooner or later we will have to build a dialogue, whether some overseas want it or not." - AFP.

Lithuanian filmmaker killed in Mariupol

Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravicius, 45, was killed trying to flee Ukraine's city of Mariupol besieged by the Russians, the Ukrainian military said Sunday.

"While trying to leave #Mariupol, the occupiers killed Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius, who is the author of the documentary Mariupolis," the defence ministry's information agency wrote on Twitter. - AFP.

UK PM congratulates Ukrainian President over Kyiv pushback

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for successfully pushing back Russian forces from key regions in the country, including the capital city of Kyiv.

In a telephone call on Saturday evening amid reports of Ukrainian forces gaining control of Kyiv, Johnson noted that huge challenges remain in other parts of the country in the ongoing conflict with Russia.

Both leaders agreed on the importance of continuing to ratchet up sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin to increase the economic pressure on his “war machine”. - PTI.

India’s position on Russia-Ukraine conflict steadfast and consistent: Kovind

India’s position on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has been steadfast and consistent, President Ram Nath Kovind has said, emphasising that the current global order is anchored in international law, UN Charter, and respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of states.

“We are deeply concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation. We have called for immediate cessation of violence and hostilities and return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy. We have also provided humanitarian assistance to Ukraine,” Kovind said. - PTI.

Kremlin says Western sanctions 'beyond reason'

The Kremlin says that by imposing sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin the West has demonstrated it has abandoned its sense of reason.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in televised remarks Sunday that the sanctions against Putin were going “beyond the edge of reason,” adding that they showed that the West is “capable of any stupidities.”

Peskov added that Putin's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “hypothetically possible” once negotiators from the two countries prepared a draft agreement to be discussed. - AP.

Berlin condemns Bucha 'war crime', wants more Russia sanctions

Germany's vice chancellor and economy minister on Sunday said a "terrible war crime" had been carried out in the Ukrainian town of Bucha and called for fresh EU sanctions against Russia.

"This terrible war crime cannot go go unanswered," Robert Habeck told German newspaper Bild the day after the bodies of nearly 300 civilians were found in mass graves after Russian troops withdrew, local Ukrainian officials said.

"I think that a strengthening of sanctions is called for. That's what we are preparing with our EU partners," Habeck added. - AFP.

Kremlin says it hopes peace negotiators can find a deal

Russia will achieve all of the aims of its "special military operation" in Ukraine and hopes that Moscow and Kyiv can ultimately sign some sort of peace deal, the Kremlin said, Inferfax news agency reported. - Reuters.

Russia will ask for rouble payments for other goods, Kremlin says

Russia will ask for rouble payments for other exports and the West's sanctions have accelerated the erosion of confidence in the US dollar and the euro, the Kremlin said.

"I have no doubt that it will in the future be extended to new groups of goods," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of Russia's demand for rouble payments for gas, the RIA news agency reported. - Reuters.

Pope prays for end to 'sacrilegious' war, compassion to refugees

Pope Francis prayed on Sunday for an end to the “sacrilegious" war in Ukraine and for the world to show kindness and compassion to refugees as he concluded a two-day visit to Malta that was dominated by his concern for the devastation unleashed by Russia's invasion. - AP.

Ukraine grain exports fall sharply in March

Ukrainian grain exports in March were four times less than February levels, due to the Russian invasion, the economy ministry said on Sunday.

March grain shipments overseas included 1.1 million tonnes of corn, 309,000 tonnes of wheat, and 118,000 tonnes of sunoil, the ministry added.

Ukraine was the world's fourth-largest grain exporter in the 2020/21 season, according to International Grains Council data, with most of its commodities shipped out via the Black Sea.

But with war raging along much of the coast, traders are being forced to transport more grain by rail. - Reuters.

Blasts heard in Russian city of Belgorod near border with Ukraine

Two blasts were heard in the Russian city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine on Sunday, two witnesses told Reuters, days after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of striking a fuel depot there.

The cause of the blasts was not immediately clear.

Russia attacks on Ukraine civilians must be probed as war crimes: UK

As evidence mounts of "appalling acts" by in the Ukrainian towns of Irpin and Bucha, Russia's attacks on civilians must be investigated as war crimes, Britain's foreign minister said Sunday.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement that the government is seeing "increasing evidence of appalling acts by the invading forces in towns such as Irpin and Bucha" and "indiscriminate attacks against innocent civilians during Russia's illegal and unjustified invasion of Ukraine must be investigated as war crimes". - AFP.

Ukraine says killing of civilians in Bucha a 'deliberate massacre'

The killing of civilians in the town of Bucha near the Ukrainian capital was a "deliberate massacre", Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Sunday, after the hasty retreat of Russian forces from the area.

"Bucha massacre was deliberate. Russians aim to eliminate as many Ukrainians as they can. We must stop them and kick them out. I demand new devastating G7 sanctions NOW," Kuleba wrote on Twitter. - AFP.

Russian negotiator says too early for top meeting on Ukraine

Russia's lead negotiator in peace talks with Ukraine said Sunday it was too early for a top level meeting on ending the conflict.

"The Ukrainian side has become more realistic in its approach to issues related to the neutral and non-nuclear status of Ukraine but the draft agreement is not ready for submission to a summit meeting," Vladimir Medinsky said on Telegram.

He said he did not share the "optimism" of Ukraine's negotiators on the possibility of talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. - AFP.

Russia to export food to friendly countries in roubles or their currencies

Russia will only export food and crops to "friendly countries" in roubles or in their national currencies, RIA news agency cited Dmitry Medvedev, deputy secretary of the country's Security Council, as saying on Sunday. - Reuters.

EU chief vows more sanctions after Russian army 'atrocities' near Kyiv

EUchief Charles Michel on Sunday pledged further sanctions on Moscow as he condemned "atrocities" carried out by Russian forces outside Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

Soldiers of formations and military units of the Russian Baltic Fleet's Army Corps are conducting tactical exercises with live firing in the Kaliningrad Region. Credit: Nexta Photo

Ukraine Kremenchug refiner destroyed after attack: Governor

Ukraine's Kremenchug oil refinery has been completely destroyed after a Russian attack, Dmytro Lunin, governor of the Poltava region, said on television on Sunday.

"The fire at the refinery has been extinguished but the facility has been completely destroyed and can no longer function," Lunin said.

Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday that sea and air missiles had destroyed an oil refinery and three fuel storages in the Odesa region, Interfax reported. (Reuters)

Drug shortages persist in Russia after start of Ukraine war

First came the warnings, in messages among friends and families and on social media, to stock up on vital drugs in Russia before supplies were affected by crippling Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

Then, some drugs indeed became harder to find at pharmacies in Moscow and other cities.

“Not a single pharmacy in the city has it now,” a resident of Kazan told The Associated Press in late March about a blood thinner her father needs. (AP)

Smoke rises after an attack by Russian army in Odesa. Airstrikes rocked Ukraine's strategic Black Sea port Odesa early Sunday morning, according to an interior ministry official, after Kyiv had warned that Russia was trying to consolidate its troops in the south. (AFP)

Russia says it destroyed oil refinery in near Odesa

The Russian defence ministry said missile strikes by its military destroyed an oil refinery and three fuel storage facilities in near the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa on Sunday.

The ministry said the facilities were used by Ukraine to supply its troops near the city of Mykolaiv. (Reuters)

Lithuanian documentary film director Kvedaravicius killed in Ukraine's Mariupol: Reports

Lithuanian film director Mantas Kvedaravicius was killed on Saturday in Ukraine's Mariupol, where he had long documented the besieged port city, according to colleagues and a media report. (Reuters)

Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, world's biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian troops

A Ukrainian service member walks in a front of an Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world's biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian troops amid Russia's attack onUkrainecontinues, at an airfield in the settlement of Hostomel, in the Kyiv region,Ukraine. (Reuters Photo)

Series of explosions heard in Ukraine's southern port city of Odessa

US-funded labs around Russia work to create bio-weapons: Kremlin

Moscow has information that an array of biological laboratories have been found aroundRussia, which are engaged in developing bio-weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Within the framework of a programme funded by the Pentagon, a whole network of biolabs have been created aroundRussiaand Belarus, which not only deal with extremely dangerous pathogens, microbes, viruses, but also work on projects to invent new types of biological weapons," Peskov said.

Zelenskyy: Troops shell retreating Russians

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian troops retaking areas around Kyiv and Chernihiv are not allowing Russians to retreat without a fight, but are “shelling them. They are destroying everyone they can.”

Zelenskyy, in his Saturday night video address to the nation, said Ukraine knowsRussiahas the forces to put even more pressure on the east and south of Ukraine.

“What is the goal of the Russian troops? They want to seize the Donbas and the south of Ukraine,” he said. “What is our goal? To defend ourselves, our freedom, our land and our people.”

Ukraine says 765 evacuate besieged Mariupol

Ukraine's deputy prime minister says 765 residents managed to make it out of Mariupol in private vehicles on Sunday while a team of humanitarian workers is yet to reach the hard-hit city.

Iryna Vereshchuk said the residents reached Zaporizhzhia, a city 140 miles (226 kilometers) to the northwest.

Almost 300 people buried in 'mass grave' in Bucha outside Kyiv: Mayor

Almost 300 people have been buried in a mass grave in Bucha, a commuter town outside Ukraine's capital Kyiv, its mayor told AFP Saturday after the Ukrainian army retook control of the key town from Russia.

Ukraine says regained control of 'whole Kyiv region'

Ukraine has regained control of "the whole Kyiv region" after invading Russian forces retreated from some key towns near the Ukrainian capital, deputy defence minister Ganna Maliar said on Saturday.

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