The Ukrainian president is expected to demand tough economic measures against Russia after the discovery of a mass grave and the bodies of civilians, some with their hands tied, in the city of Bukha outside Kyiv. Zelensky, who visited Bucha on Monday after officials said the bodies of 410 civilians had been removed from cities in the Kiev region when Russian troops withdrew, described the killings as war crimes that would be “recognized” by the world as genocide. Russia’s deputy foreign minister reportedly said intensive talks between Moscow and Kiev were continuing via video link, and Zelensky admitted in a televised interview on Tuesday that negotiations with Russia were still the only option. However, he said that after the assassinations, the talks were now a “challenge”, adding that it was possible that he and Putin did not have personal talks. In a video speech early in the morning, he said Bhutan was “just a city” and the number of civilian casualties in others, including Borodyanka 15 miles (25km) west, could be “much higher”. Zelenski in Bucha on Monday. Photo: Marko Đurica / Reuters Images of civilian bodies being shot at close range in the streets of Bucha have sparked international condemnation of Moscow, calls for even harsher sanctions and demands that those responsible for war crimes be tried. Russia has denied the allegations, saying the images were fake or that the deaths occurred after the withdrawal of Russian forces. However, satellite images taken before the withdrawal show corpses in some of the same places later found. Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, has said the atrocities were carried out by Ukrainian nationalists, adding that Russia would present further “real evidence” to the Security Council on Tuesday. The Russian Defense Ministry accused the Ukrainian special services of organizing the killing of civilians to spread propaganda in the Western media, saying that similar “events” had also been “organized by Ukrainian special forces in Sumy, Konotop and other cities.” Dmitry Medvedev, one of Putin’s closest allies and deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, described the killings as “fake in the cynical imagination of Ukrainian propaganda” and “made for huge sums of money.” The speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, called Bucha “a challenge to discredit Russia,” saying “Washington and Brussels are the screenwriters and directors and Kyiv is the actors.” “There are no facts – only lies.” However, satellite images of Maxar Technologies on Bucha Street from March 19 and 21 seem to show many corpses in exactly the same place as in the video and photos taken this weekend on the same street. A satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows a view of Yablonska Street in Bucha, Ukraine. Photo: Satellite Image © 2022 Maxar Tech / AFP / Getty Images A New York Times analysis of close-ups of Bucha Yablonska Street concluded after comparing them with videos from April 1 and 2 that many bodies had been there since at least three weeks ago, when Russian forces were in control. city. The British ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, described the images of Bhutto as “shocking, horrific, possible evidence of war crimes and possibly genocide” and said the Security Council needed to “think about how to deal with it”. Amid growing outrage on Monday, US President Joe Biden called Putin a “war criminal” and called for a “war crimes trial”. The White House has promised new sanctions in Moscow this week. The United States and the United Kingdom have also called on Russia to suspend its membership in the UN Human Rights Council. As Italy and Denmark join forces with France and Germany in the deportation of dozens of Russian diplomats, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Kyiv to meet with Zelensky later this week, accompanied by Josep Borrell. a high-ranking diplomat of the bloc, its spokesman said. on Tuesday. France has proposed new measures that could target Russian oil and coal exports, although Germany has warned it is too early to cut off Russian gas. France’s Europe minister, Clément Beaune, said on Tuesday that the EU was likely to adopt a new round of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday. On the front line of Ukraine: “Only the dead are not afraid” – video Russia supplies about a third of Europe’s gas, and officials in several EU countries have called for action on measures that could end the European energy crisis, despite Putin’s efforts to leverage energy to resist in Western sanctions. Zelensky said sanctions should be significantly increased after the Buha assassinations, adding: “But… did hundreds of our people have to die in agony to finally realize that some European leaders deserve the most severe pressure from the Russian state?” The Ukrainian president also demanded additional weapons from Western allies, saying more equipment could have saved thousands. “I do not blame you – I only blame the Russian army,” he said. “But you could have helped.” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said he had spoken to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about Bucharest, stressing that Ukraine would “use all available UN mechanisms to gather information and hold Russian war criminals accountable.” . Kuleba also spoke with Wang Yi’s Chinese counterpart. Europe’s worst conflict in decades, which began with the Russian invasion on February 24, has killed 20,000 people, according to Ukrainian estimates. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says more than 4.2 million refugees have fled the country, while the International Organization for Migration says about 6.5 million people are internally displaced.
