The government of Russian President Vladimir Putin is dropping troops into eastern Ukraine to gain control of the industrial heart known as Donbass. This follows Russia’s withdrawal from cities around the capital, Kyiv, which led to the discovery of corpses, sparking accusations of war crimes and demands for tougher sanctions in Moscow. Russian forces are focusing on occupying the towns of Popasna and Rubizne in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the port of Mariupol on the Black Sea, the General Staff said on its Facebook page. Donetsk and Luhansk are controlled by Russian-backed separatists and recognized by Moscow as independent states. The General Staff said access to Kharkiv in the east, Ukraine’s second largest city, had been blocked. “The enemy is regrouping troops and focusing its efforts on preparing an offensive operation in the east of our country,” the statement said. “The aim is to establish full control over the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.” Speaking from Ukraine, Zelensky planned to address Security Council diplomats on Tuesday amid calls for possible war crimes to be investigated. Germany and France reacted by expelling dozens of Russian diplomats, implying they were spies. President Joe Biden has said Putin should be tried for war crimes. “This guy is brutal and what is happening in Bucha is outrageous,” Biden said, referring to the city northwest of the capital which was the scene of some of the terror. Before Zelensky speaks, the most powerful UN body will be briefed by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. the policy of the leader, Rosemary DiCarlo. and the head of UN humanitarian services, Martin Griffiths, who is trying to arrange a ceasefire. Griffiths met with Russian officials in Moscow on Monday and is scheduled to visit Ukraine. Associated Press reporters in Bouha counted dozens of corpses in civilian clothes and apparently unarmed, many shot at close range and some with their hands tied or burnt flesh. After touring the Bucha neighborhood and talking to hungry survivors lined up for bread, Zelensky promised in a video message that Ukraine would work with the European Union and the International Criminal Court to locate any Russian militants involved. “The time will come when every Russian will learn the whole truth about which of his fellow citizens he killed, who gave orders, who turned a blind eye to the killings,” he said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the scenes outside Kyiv as a “staged anti-Russian provocation.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov said the images contained “video forgery marks and various forgeries”. Russia has denied previous allegations of atrocities by Ukraine. Ukrainian officials say the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been found in cities around Kyiv that have been recaptured by Russian forces. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine described a room discovered in Bukha as a “torture chamber”. In a statement, it said the bodies of five men with their hands tied were found in the basement of a children’s sanatorium where civilians were tortured and killed. The corpses seen by AP reporters in Bucha included at least 13 people inside and around a building that locals said were used by Russian troops as a base. Three more bodies were found on a ladder and a group of six were cremated. The dead, who were watched by news agency reporters, also included corpses wrapped in black plastic, stacked at one end of a mass grave in a Bucha church. Many of these victims had been shot in cars or killed in explosions as they tried to flee the city. With the morgue full and the cemetery inaccessible, the churchyard was the only place to keep the dead, Father Andrii Galavin said. Tanya Nedashkivs’ka said she buried her husband in a garden outside their apartment building after she was arrested by Russian troops. His body was one of those left stacked on a ladder. “Please, I beg you, do something!” he said. “I speak, a Ukrainian, a Ukrainian, a mother of two children and a grandson. “For all wives and mothers, make peace on earth so that no one will ever mourn again.” Another Bucha resident, Volodymyr Pilhutskyi, said Pavlo Vlasenko’s neighbor was picked up by Russian soldiers because the military-style trousers he was wearing and the uniforms Vlasenko said belonged to his son’s were looking suspicious. When Vlasenko’s body was later found, he had signs of flame burns, his neighbor said. Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told a news conference on Monday that “not a single local has suffered any violence during the time that Bucha has been under Russian control.” However, high-resolution satellite images from commercial provider Maxar Technologies showed that many of the bodies had been in the countryside for weeks, during the period when Russian forces were in Bucha. The New York Times first reported on satellite images showing the dead. Western and Ukrainian leaders have accused Russia of war crimes in the past. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has already started an investigation. But recent reports have strengthened the condemnation. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the images from Bucha exposed the “unbelievable barbarity of the Russian leadership and those who follow its propaganda.” French President Emmanuel Macron has said there is “clear evidence of war crimes” in Bucha that call for new sanctions. “I am in favor of a new round of sanctions, especially on coal and petrol. “We have to act,” he told France-Inter radio. Although united in rage, the European allies seemed divided over how to respond. While Poland has urged Europe to wean itself quickly from Russian energy, Germany has said it will pursue a phased approach to phasing out coal and oil imports in the coming months. Russia has withdrawn many of its forces from the area around Kyiv after being thwarted in its attempt to seize the capital quickly. Instead, it sent troops to southeastern Ukraine. About two-thirds of Russian troops around Kyiv have fled and are either in Belarus or heading there, likely to receive more supplies and reinforcements, said a senior US defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity. evaluation of information. More than 1,500 civilians managed to escape from Mariupol on Monday, using the reduced number of private vehicles available to leave, said Ukrainian Vice President Iryna Vereshchuk. The besieged southern port city has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the war. However, in the midst of the clashes, a Red Cross escort bus, which was canceled for days in an attempt to deliver supplies and evacuate residents, was unable to re-enter the city, Verestsuk said. Elsewhere, Russian bombings killed 11 people in the southern city of Mykolaiv, Regional Governor Vitaly Kim said in a video message on social media. Zelensky called for more weapons as Russia prepares for new attacks. “If we had already got what we needed – all these planes, tanks, artillery, anti-missile and anti-ship weapons – we could have saved thousands of people,” he said.
Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine. Edith Lederer at the United Nations. Lolita Baldor in Washington and Associated Press reporters around the world contributed to this report. Follow the AP coverage for the war at
