Journalists in Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kiev, watched as Ukrainian soldiers, backed by a column of tanks and other armored vehicles, used cables to pull corpses from a long distance, fearing they might have been set on fire. Locals said the dead were civilians killed by outgoing Russian soldiers without provocation. An AFP reporter said they had seen at least 20 bodies on the ground. Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said more than 300 residents had been killed. “These people were just walking around and shooting them for no reason. “Bang,” said a Bucha resident, who declined to be named for security reasons. “In the next neighborhood, Stekolka, it was even worse. “They would shoot without asking any questions.” Ukraine announced on Saturday that its forces had occupied all areas around Kyiv, claiming full control of the capital’s area for the first time since Russia launched the invasion. Troops have recaptured more than 30 towns and villages around Kyiv since Russia withdrew from the area this week, Ukrainian officials said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in a night video that Russian departing troops were creating a “catastrophic” situation for civilians, leaving mines around homes, abandoned equipment and “even the corpses of the dead.” Boris Johnson spoke with Zelensky on Saturday afternoon, a Downing Street spokesman said. “He commended the brave Ukrainian armed forces for successfully repelling the Russian army from invading various areas, but acknowledged the enormous challenges that remain and the enormous suffering of civilians,” they added. The prime minister briefed Zelensky on the progress made at the recent military sponsorship conference convened by the United Kingdom with 35 countries, No. 10 said, and “pledged to continue to strengthen defense support.” Russia has pledged to target British weapons being sent to Ukraine after one of its helicopters was shot down by a British-made missile. Andrey Kelin, Moscow’s ambassador to London, said Britain’s decision to send weapons to the Ukrainian army had made the war “even more bloody”. The comments came after the Starstreak high-speed missile system, which Britain supplied to Ukraine in March along with anti-tank weapons, was involved in an attack on a Russian aircraft in the Luhansk region. They also follow the promise of British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace to send more lethal aid to Kyiv. Mr Kelin told the TASS news agency: “All arms supplies are destabilizing, especially those mentioned by Wallace. David Arahamia, a Ukrainian negotiator, reportedly said that the draft peace treaty documents were at an advanced stage to allow direct consultations between the two nations’ leaders. Ukraine’s Interfax news agency quoted Mr Arahamias as saying on Russian television that Russia had accepted Ukraine’s overall position, with the exception of its stance on Crimea. A man stands next to a civilian vehicle that was destroyed during fighting as Ukrainian soldiers board a tank outside Kyiv (Vadim Ghirda / AP) To the east, a Red Cross motorcade again sought to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol after abandoning an effort on Friday due to a lack of security guarantees. But this renewed shipment was not expected to arrive at the port at least until Sunday. The Russian Defense Ministry blamed the Red Cross for the humanitarian aid columns being unable to reach the city on Friday or Saturday. The RIA news agency quoted a senior official as saying that because of the Red Cross’s actions, the convoys had departed too late and were unable to reach Mariupol in time. Civilians cheer with Ukrainian soldier as military and aid convoys arrive in the former Russian-occupied Kiev suburb of Bucha (Vadim Ghirda / AP) Russia has portrayed the withdrawal of its forces near Kyiv as a gesture of goodwill in the peace talks – but Ukraine and its allies say Russian forces have been forced to regroup after heavy losses. Pope Francis arrived on Saturday as close as possible to criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion began on February 24. During a visit to Malta, the head of the Catholic Church criticized the “baby” war in Ukraine, saying that people believed that such behavior belonged to the “distant past”. He said: “Once again, some powerful people, unfortunately trapped in anachronistic claims of nationalist interests, are provoking and inciting conflicts, while ordinary people feel the need to build a future that they will either share or not at all.” Missing Ukrainian photographer and videographer Maksim Levin, who worked for a Ukrainian news website and was a longtime contributor to the Reuters news agency, was found dead in a village north of Kiev on Friday. Concerns were raised about the 41-year-old journalist after his disappearance on March 13 while photographing battles near the capital. Russia denies that it has targeted civilians in what Putin calls a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarizing and “rewarding” Ukraine. Ukraine calls it an unprovoked offensive war, and Western countries have imposed sweeping sanctions in a bid to stifle the Russian economy.
