The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information said in a statement on social media on Monday that each of the deaths and other crimes against members of the media would be investigated. The ministry added that another 13 journalists were injured, eight were abducted or taken prisoner, and three journalists are still missing. He said several crimes had been committed against journalists from 11 countries, including Ukraine.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: Russia is facing growing anger amid new evidence of atrocities – Ukraine accuses Russia of massacre, a city full of corpses – People react with horror to the images of killed civilians in Ukrainian cities – Shortages of medicines continue in Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine – Ukrainian refugees find work, kindness as they settle – Go to for more coverage
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS: LVIV, Ukraine – The governor of Ukraine’s northern Sumy region says Russian forces no longer control any settlement in the area after their withdrawal, although some small groups of Russian troops remain. The town of Sumy, near the border with Russia, was besieged by Russian troops when the invasion began in February as other Russian forces joined forces to attack the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, from the northeast. Russia began withdrawing troops from the area around Kyiv last week and says it is now focusing its efforts on fighting in eastern Ukraine. Sumy Governor Dmytro Zhyvystskyy told Ukrainian television that “there are currently no occupied settlements” and that the invading forces had withdrawn across the border into Russia with their vehicles and artillery. However, he added, “there are still individual units and small groups of Russian troops and they are now being captured” by the Ukrainian army and local Territorial Defense volunteers. “Cleaning is being done all over the area,” he said.
BERLIN – Germany is deporting 40 Russian diplomats in response to the Bucha assassinations and says further measures are being prepared with partners. Foreign Minister Annalena Bayerbok said on Monday that images taken of the Ukrainian city after the withdrawal of Russian troops “show an intention to destroy beyond all borders”. Baerbock said the Bucha images also reveal the “incredible barbarity of the Russian leadership and those who follow its propaganda.” The top German diplomat said “we must be afraid of similar images from many other places occupied by Russian troops in Ukraine” and that “we must confront this inhumanity with the power of our freedom and our humanity”. He added that “it must also be clear that we must defend our freedom and be ready to defend it.” He said the expelled Russian diplomats “worked here in Germany every day against our freedom, against the cohesion of our society” and that their work was “a threat to those seeking protection with us”. Baerbock said she told the Russian ambassador “we will not tolerate this anymore.”
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands – The United States has $ 250,000 in the International Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to provide “assistance and protection” to Ukraine if it is targeted or threatened with chemical weapons. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced the contribution on Monday, following a meeting last Thursday between Mark Shaw, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance’s State Department, and Director General Deutsche Welle. Western countries have warned of possible chemical weapons attacks by Russian forces since Moscow launched its invasion of its neighbor in late February. Shaw said in a statement that the United States “stands with Ukraine and all those who face the threat of chemical weapons.” He says he hopes the money will allow the agency to “quickly help Ukraine as it seeks protection from chemical threats from the Russian government.”
US President Joe Biden on Monday called for a war crimes trial against Russian President Vladimir Putin and additional sanctions following the alleged atrocities in Bukha, one of the cities around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where Ukrainian officials said officials had met. “What is happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone is watching,” Biden said. Biden’s comments came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the city, which he described as “genocidal.” Zelensky also called on the West to impose tougher sanctions on Russia. Biden, however, did not call the actions genocide. The bodies of 410 civilians have been removed from cities in the Kiev region recently recaptured by Russian forces, said Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova. Associated Press reporters saw the bodies of at least 21 people in various locations around Buha, northwest of the capital. “We must continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to continue the fight. “And we have to gather all the details to make that happen – to make a war crimes trial,” Biden said.
WASHINGTON – A senior U.S. defense official says about two-thirds of the approximately 20 Russian battalions stationed around Kyiv have now left and are either in Belarus or heading there. The United States has said that the “overwhelming majority” of about 125 Russian battalions were in Ukraine during the first round of hostilities. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a military assessment, said the United States estimated that Russian forces were being supplied and reinforced in Belarus and would then return to Ukraine, possibly in the Donbas region to the east. In addition, Russian troops move from Sumy and return to Russia. However, they are strengthening and repositioning their artillery and giving more energy to the battle around the town of Izyum, which is on a key route to Donbas. The official said that in total, Russia has fired more than 1,400 missiles at Ukraine since the start of the war. In recent days, these strikes have focused more on the east and Mariupol. The defense official said the United States could not independently verify details of the atrocities in Bucha, but had no reason to doubt the allegations. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov on Monday morning. – AP author Lolita Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.
VILNIUS, Lithuania – Lithuania announced on Monday that it would expel the Russian ambassador and recall its envoy to Moscow in response to growing indications that Russian forces may have committed war crimes in Ukraine. The Baltic country has also decided to close a Russian consulate in the port city of Klaipeda, which has a large offshore LNG import terminal. “Lithuania has strongly condemned the atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces in occupied Ukrainian cities, including the brutal massacres in Bucha. “All the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine will not be forgotten,” Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Monday. He added that the Lithuanian ambassador to Ukraine was returning to Kyiv and that Lithuania’s partners in the European Union and NATO had been informed of its decision to expel the Russian ambassador. He called on them to do the same. In neighboring Latvia, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said Riga would cut diplomatic ties with the Russian Federation, according to the Baltic News Service. No decision was made to reduce the links.
A Russian law enforcement agency says it has launched its own investigation into allegations that Ukrainian civilians were massacred on the outskirts of Kiev held by Russian troops, focusing on what it calls “false information” about Russian forces. The Commission of Inquiry claims that the Ukrainian authorities made the allegations “with the aim of discrediting Russian troops” and that those involved should be investigated for possible violations of a new Russian law banning what the government considers to be false information about its forces. . Russian law enforcement has launched several investigations since Russian troops entered Ukraine, usually for incidents such as the bombing of Russian-backed separatist-held areas.
KYIV, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia must move quickly to negotiate an agreement to end the war. Speaking on Monday during a visit to the city of Butcha outside Kyiv, where hundreds of civilians were found dead after the withdrawal of Russian troops last week, Zelensky said evidence of atrocities made it difficult to hold talks with Russia. “It is very difficult to negotiate when you see what they did here,” Zelenski said, adding that in Bucha and elsewhere “they were found dead in barrels, underground, strangled, tortured.” He added that the Russian leadership “needs to think faster if it has anything to think about.” Zelensky added that “the more the Russian Federation drags it, the worse it will worsen its own situation and this war.” Zelensky reiterated his criticism of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s opposition to Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, saying she and other Western leaders who resisted the move would have to come to Bucha to “see what leads to it.” flirtation with the Russian Federation “.
CAIRO – Five Arab foreign ministers have traveled to Moscow for talks with Russia’s top diplomat on the Ukraine war. The Arab League says the foreign ministers of Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan and Sudan will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday. Ahemd Aboul Gheit, …
