EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc was working urgently on a new round of sanctions against Moscow, adding: “The Russian authorities are responsible for these atrocities, which took place while they were in control of the region.” Amid international outcry over the discovery of a mass grave and handcuffed body at the weekend in the city of Bukha, near Kyiv, Borrell said the EU stood in solidarity with Ukraine during “dark hours for the whole world”. As the UN Security Council prepares to discuss Ukraine on Tuesday, the UN’s human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, told the human rights council that the bombings and heavy bombings during the Russian invasion had killed may equate to war crimes. The Security Council requested that in addition to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s ongoing inspections in Russia, that it monitor Russia’s compliance with “the steps required by the IAEA Board”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a visit to Bucharest that the atrocities would inevitably complicate peace talks due to a video restart on Monday. The killings were “war crimes and will be recognized by the world as genocide,” Zelensky said. “We know that thousands of people have been killed and tortured.” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called for an international inquiry into what he called “genocide” carried out by Russian troops, saying it was “necessary to find out the truth about the extent of Russian fascist crimes”. Urging the harsher sanctions of the West and the end of “negotiations with criminals”, Morawiecki said that the “bloody massacres committed by Russian soldiers deserve to be called what they are.” “This is genocide and it must be judged.” The Polish leader criticized the efforts of the last few weeks of the French President, Emanuel Macron, to keep the lines of communication open with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, saying: “Nobody negotiated with Hitler.” He told German Chancellor Olaf Solz that Berlin, fearing the financial consequences of a sudden halt to Russian gas imports, should not listen to “German businessmen and German billionaires” but to the “voices of innocent women and children”. Macron said Monday that there were “very clear indications of war crimes” by Russian forces in Bukha and that new sanctions were needed, including on Russian oil and coal. Solz said Putin and his supporters would “feel the consequences” and that new sanctions would be agreed in the coming days. Russia’s war in Ukraine: latest developments – map German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has called for an end to gas imports, while Italy’s foreign minister, another Russian-based country, has said he will not veto energy sanctions. Other European officials, including Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, said the EU “must respond vigorously”. The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, said that the West must do everything in its power to ensure that those responsible for “these alleged cases of crimes against humanity, war crimes and – why not say it and genocide “will not go unpunished. The Kremlin, which has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, on Monday dismissed all allegations of civilian killings in Bucha, saying Ukrainian allegations should be treated with skepticism and that “images of corpses” do not correspond to reality. “We categorically reject all allegations,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov, adding that Russian Defense Ministry experts had “detected signs of fake videos and various fake ones” and urged international leaders not to “rush into at least to hear our arguments. “ Officials in Brussels say a new series of sanctions against Moscow will be discussed this week, with EU foreign ministers considering the package either on the sidelines of a NATO meeting on Wednesday and Thursday or early next week. Ukrainian authorities say they are investigating possible war crimes by Russian forces after finding 421 bodies in civilian clothes, some with their hands tied, scattered in various cities outside the capital, including Butcha, following the withdrawal of Moscow troops from the area. from the capital. Showing his partially covered bodies to reporters, Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, said Monday that the head of a village, Motyzhyn, her husband and son had been shot and buried in a shallow grave. “The occupiers suspected that they were collaborating with our army, giving us locations where we would target our artillery,” Herashchenko said. “These scum tortured, slaughtered and killed the whole family. They will be held responsible for this. “ Zelensky on Sunday described Russian soldiers as “murderers”, “butchers” and “rapists” and warned that “even worse things” could be found in other occupied territories. The United States said Monday it would ask the UN General Assembly to suspend Russia from the body’s human rights council following the atrocities. A two-thirds majority in New York’s 193-member assembly could suspend a state from the council for persistently committing blatant and systematic human rights abuses. Speaking in Bucharest on Monday, Washington’s ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said: “Russia’s participation in the human rights council is a hoax. “And it’s wrong, that’s why we think it’s time for the UN General Assembly vote to remove them.” The Kremlin has said that Russian diplomats at the UN will continue their efforts to convene a Security Council meeting, despite the fact that their first attempt was thwarted. Europe’s worst conflict in decades, sparked by Russia’s invasion on February 24, has already killed 20,000 people, according to Ukrainian estimates. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on Monday that more than 4.2 million refugees have fled the country. “Humanitarian needs are increasing every minute as more people leave the war in Ukraine,” said the International Organization for Migration, adding that in addition to Ukrainian refugees, nearly 205,500 non-Ukrainians living, studying or working in the country have fled and almost 6 have left. 5 million people were displaced inland.
