Russia Ukraine News Highlights | Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russian troops "murderers, torturers, rapists, looters" on Monday after dozens of bodies were found near Kyiv, triggering global outrage and vows of tough new sanctions on Moscow.
Local authorities said they had been forced to dig communal graves to bury the dead accumulating in the streets, including some found with their hands bound behind their backs, in scenes that sent shockwaves through international capitals more than a month into Russia's invasion.
Despite Russian denials of responsibility, condemnation was swift, with Western leaders, NATO and the UN all voicing horror at reports of civilian murders in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, and elsewhere.
Zelensky was unsparing in his nightly video message, warning "concentrated evil has come to our land". He described Russian troops as "murderers, torturers, rapists, looters, who call themselves the army and who deserve only death after what they did", speaking in Ukrainian.
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Russia-Ukraine Crisis LIVE | Russia prepares bill seeking jail terms for adhering to sanctions
Russian lawmakers submitted a draft bill to the lower house of parliament, or the Duma, that envisages a prison term of up to 10 years and fines for adhering to Western sanctions in Russia, Interfax state news agency reported on Monday. The bill, if passed, would mark further tightening of Russian laws after Moscow launched what it calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24, prompting an unprecedented wave of Western economic sanctions in response.
The new bill, which needs to be approved by the parliament and signed by President Vladimir Putin before it becomes law, aims to prevent a deterioration of Russia's economic situation, Interfax quoted lawmaker, Pavel Krasheninnikov, as saying. (Reuters)
Russia-Ukraine Crisis LIVE | 'I got Putin wrong', says chastened German President
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, long an advocate of Western rapprochement with Russia, expressed regret for his earlier stance, saying his years of support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline had been a clear mistake. Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who served as Foreign Minister under Chancellor Angela Merkel before being elevated to the presidency, said Russia's invasion of Ukraine meant he and others had to reckon honestly with what they had got wrong. "My adherence to Nord Stream 2 was clearly a mistake," he said. "We were sticking to a bridge in which Russia no longer believed and which other partners had warned us against."(Reuters)
Russia-Ukraine Crisis LIVE | Red Cross says its team travelling to Mariupol was stopped, now being held
A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was stopped during an attempt to reach Mariupol, Ukraine to evacuate civilians and is now being held in the nearby town Manhush, a spokesperson told Reuters on Monday.
"A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is being held in the town of Manhush, 20 kilometers west of Mariupol," ICRC spokesperson Jason Straziuso told Reuters. He said the team was being held by police, without giving further details. "It's not a hostage situation," he added.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Biden says Putin is a war criminal, calls for war crimes trial
USPresident Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal on Monday and said he would call for a war crimes trial, as a global outcry mounted over civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, Reuters reported.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls killings in Bucha 'genocide'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday described as "genocide" the killings of civilians in the town of Bucha outside the capital Kyiv reclaimed from Russian forces."These are war crimes and it will be recognised by the world as genocide," Zelensky said during a visit to Bucha, where bodies were discovered strewn throughout the town after it was reclaimed by Kyiv's army."You stand here today and see what happened. We know that thousands of people have been killed and tortured with extremities cut off, women raped, children killed," he told reporters wearing a bullet-proof vest and accompanied by military personnel."It's genocide," he added.Ukraine and Western nations have accused Russian troops of war crimes after the discovery of mass graves and apparently executed civilians at Bucha, prompting vows of action at the International Criminal Court.Russia's defence ministry denied its troops had killed civilians in the town recently retaken by Ukrainian soldiers.Britain, France, Germany, the United States and NATO all voiced horror at the images from Bucha, where some of the bodies lying in public appeared to have been bound by their hands and feet before being shot.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | EU offers investigators to probe Ukraine war crimes
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday said the EU was ready to send a team of investigators to gather evidence of possible war crimes after the discovery of killed civilians near Kiev."The EU is ready to reinforce this effort by sending investigation teams on the ground to support the Ukrainian Prosecution Services. Eurojust and Europol are ready to assist," she said, referring to EU law enforcement organisations.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Besieged Ukrainian city Mariupol '90 percent' destroyed, says Mayor
The Ukrainian port city of Mariupol in the south-east of the country has been "90 percent" destroyed after being besieged by Russian forces, its mayor Vadym Boichenko said Monday."The sad news is that 90 percent of the infrastructure in the city is destroyed and 40 percent is unrecoverable," Boichenko told a press conference. Around 130,000 people remained trapped in the city, he said.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Germany says 'not possible' yet to cut Russian gas
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said Monday it was not yet possible for the EU to cut Russian gas imports as a sanction against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, since it would do it more harm than just to Russia. "We have to cut all economic relationship to Russia, but at the moment, it's not possible to cut the gas supplies. We need some time," Lindner said as he arrived for talks with his eurozone counterparts in Luxembourg.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | More than 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees flee war
More than 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees have now fled the country since the Russian invasion, the United Nations said Monday, adding that the humanitarian situation was worsening.UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said 4,215,047 Ukrainians had fled the country since the war began on February 24 -- a figure up 38,646 on the numbers for Sunday."The humanitarian needs are growing by the minute as more people flee the war in Ukraine," the UN's International Organization for Migration said.The IOM says that in addition to Ukrainian refugees, nearly 205,500 non-Ukrainians living, studying or working in the country have also left.Meanwhile, nearly 6.48 million people were estimated to be internally displaced within Ukraine as of mid-March, according IOM.Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine had a population of 37 million in the regions under government control, excluding Russia-annexed Crimea and the pro-Russian separatist regions in the east.Women and children account for 90 percent of those who have left Ukraine, with men aged 18 to 60 eligible for military call-up and unable to leave.The UN children's agency UNICEF said in late March that more than half of the country's estimated 7.5 million children had been displaced -- 2.5 million internally and two million abroad. Here is a breakdown of how many Ukrainian refugees have fled to neighbouring countries, according to UNHCR.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Russia imposes visa restrictions on citizens of 'unfriendly countries'
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday introducing visa restrictions for citizens of countries that Moscow deems "unfriendly" in response to sanctions over Ukraine.The decree, which comes into force on Monday, suspends Russia's simplified visa issuance regime with some European Union countries as well as Norway, Switzerland, Denmark and Iceland.It also ordered the Russian foreign ministry and other bodies to decide on introducing personal entry restrictions on "foreign citizens and stateless people who commit unfriendly actions against Russia, its citizens or its legal entities."
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Angela Merkel defends 2008 decision to block Ukraine from NATO
Former German chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday defended her 2008 decision to block Ukraine from immediately joining NATO, rejecting President Volodymyr Zelensky's criticism as Russia's invasion clouds her 16-year legacy.Zelensky in a night-late address had described as a "miscalculation" a Franco-German-led decision at the NATO summit in Bucharest to not admit his country to the alliance despite a push from the United States."I invite Ms Merkel and Mr (Nicolas) Sarkozy to visit Bucha and see what the policy of concessions to Russia has led to in 14 years," he said, referring to the alleged atrocities against Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops that world powers have described as "war crimes".The Ukrainian president also accused the European leaders of seeking to appease Russia with their stance then.But Merkel in a short statement issued by her spokeswoman said she "stands by her decisions in relation to the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest"."In view of the atrocities uncovered in Bucha and other places in Ukraine, all efforts by the government and the international community to stand by Ukraine's side and to bring an end to Russia's barbarism and war against Ukraine have the former chancellor's full support," added the spokeswoman.Germany had deemed it too early for Ukraine to join NATO in 2008 because it found that the political conditions were not met at that point.Merkel, who retired from politics late last year after four consecutive terms in power, had once been hailed as the leader of the free world.But Russian President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine has exposed flaws in her legacy, with critics saying she left Germany and Europe vulnerable with her detente policy towards the Kremlin leader.Under particular scrutiny is Germany's reliance on Russian energy, which made up 36 percent of its gas imports in 2014 but which rose to 55 percent by the time of the February 24 invasion.The dependence on Russian power has left Berlin saying it is unable to follow a call by the US and other allies to impose a full energy embargo on Moscow.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | More Ukrainians move west as Russia turns focus to Donbas
Hundreds wait for a train to take them west out of the path of the Russian advance at the station in Kramatorsk, the de facto capital of Ukrainian-controlled territory in Donbas."It's been like this since the end of last week. Almost 2,000 people a day are boarding trains west for Lviv or elsewhere," says Nasir, a humanitarian volunteer helping with the operation."It used to be two trains a day. Now it's four," he adds."The situation is bad. Lots of people have already left. The men are staying, our families are leaving," says Andriy, whose wife and two children are taking shelter from the rain under the awning of a fast-food hut with their bags at their feet.Sofia, his teenage daughter standing around with three friends also making their way west, admits she is "a bit sad" to be leaving."I'm sending my children to the west like everyone else, to my brother-in-law's village" away from the frontline, says Andriy, holding on to his youngest child's hand.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Ukraine war: All 21 students from Goa have returned, pursuing studies online, says NRI commissioner
All 21 students from Goa who were stranded in Ukraine amid the war there have returned to the coastal state and are currently pursuing their educational courses online, the state's NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar said on Monday. They were studying medicine in different colleges there and the Goa NRI Commission is in touch with each of them here, Sawaikar told PTI. These students have been given the support they required, he added.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Tougher Russia sanctions urged over Ukraine 'war crimes'
EU officials said Monday they were weighing new sanctions targeting Moscow in response to alleged atrocities against Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces that sparked a wave of international outrage.Despite Russian denials of responsibility, condemnation was swift, with Western leaders, NATO and the UN all voicing horror at images of dead bodies inBucha, northwest ofKyiv, and elsewhere.Local authorities said they had been forced to dig communal graves to bury the dead accumulating in the streets, including one inBuchafound with his hands bound behind his back.Ukraine's PresidentVolodymyrZelenskycalled Russian troops "murderers, torturers, rapists, looters" and warned in his nightly video message that "concentrated evil has come to our land."EU foreign policy chiefJosepBorrellsaid the bloc was urgently discussing a new round of sanctions as it condemned "atrocities" reported in Ukrainian towns that have been occupied by troops sent in by Russian President Vladimir Putin five weeks ago.The proposals, which French President Emmanuel Macron said could target Russia's oil and coal sectors, could be discussed by foreign ministers on the sidelines of a NATO meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, or at their regular meeting early next week, an EU official told AFP.Borrellalso offered EU assistance in documenting evidence of the alleged atrocities, andZelenskysaid he had created a special body to investigate.The scale of the killings is still being pieced together, but Ukrainian prosecutor generalIrynaVenediktovasaid 410 civilian bodies had been recovered so far.AndBucha'smayorAnatolyFedoruktold AFP that 280 bodies were placed in mass graves because it was impossible to bury them in cemeteries still within firing range of Russian forces.Satellite imagery firmMaxarreleased pictures it said showed a mass grave located in the grounds of a church in the town.Municipal workerSerhiiKaplychnyitold AFP that Russian troops initially refused to allow residents to bury the dead inBucha."They said while it was cold to let them lie there."Eventually, they were able to retrieve the bodies, he said. "We dug a mass grave with a tractor and buried everyone."AFP reporters in the town saw at least 20 bodies, all in civilian clothing, strewn across a single street.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Japan slams 'exceptionally cruel' civilian deaths near Kyiv
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Monday condemned the "exceptionally cruel" violence against civilians near Kyiv in an apparent reference to killings in the town of Bucha."I am deeply shocked by news of the exceptionally cruel acts of violence against civilians near Kyiv. The murder of innocent civilians is a violation of international humanitarian law and is unacceptable and I strongly condemn these acts," he told reporters during a visit to Warsaw.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Russia 'categorically' rejects accusations of Ukraine Bucha killings
The Kremlin on Monday rejected accusations that Russian forces were responsible for killing civilians near Kyiv and suggested images of corpses were "fakes"."We categorically reject all allegations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Czechs send 250 soldiers to Slovakia to set up NATO battlegroup
A total of 250 Czech army paratroopers on Monday left for Slovakia, which neighbours war-ravaged Ukraine, to build a NATO battlegroup there, the defence ministry said.The battlegroup will comprise up to 2,100 soldiers from Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States.The Czechs will be in command of the battlegroup."The key task of the mission is to declare the readiness, resolve and unity of NATO members in protecting the territorial integrity of the alliance," said Colonel Tomas Unzeitig who will lead the battlegroup."This is an international NATO operation set to boost the defence capacities of the Slovak Army," he added.The mission is part of NATO's bid to boost its eastern flank following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started on February 24.The ministry said the paratroopers will stay in Slovakia until June and then will be replaced by a unit operating armoured vehicles.The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and Slovakia followed suit in 2004. The two countries that formed Czechoslovakia until a peaceful split in 1993 are both EU members.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Eight dead in Russian shelling in south Ukraine: Kyiv
Eight people were killed and 34 wounded in recent Russian attacks on two towns in southern Ukraine, prosecutors in Kyiv said Monday, as the West warns Moscow of more sanctions over civilian killings. "As a result of enemy shelling, seven residents of Ochakiv were killed and another 20 were injured. In the city of Mykolaiv one person died and 14 people were wounded, among them the child," the Ukrainian Prosecutor General said in a statement referring to attacks on Sunday.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | International leaders condemn Russian actions
The European Union’s top diplomat has joined a growing chorus of international criticism blaming the Russian armed forces for alleged atrocities committed against civilians in Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says “the Russian authorities are responsible for these atrocities, committed while they had effective control of the area. They are subject to the international law of occupation.”
Borrell said Monday that the “haunting images of large numbers of civilian deaths and casualties, as well as destruction of civilian infrastructures show the true face of the brutal war of aggression Russia is waging against Ukraine and its people.” Working with the U.S., U.K. and other international partners, the EU has been ramping up sanctions against Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February. Borrell says the 27-country bloc “will advance, as a matter of urgency, work on further sanctions against Russia.”
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | EU urgently discussing new Russia sanctions after Ukraine 'atrocities'
The EU said Monday it is urgently discussing a new round of sanctions on Russia as it condemned "atrocities" reported in Ukrainian towns that have been occupied by Moscow's troops. The European Union "will advance, as a matter of urgency, work on further sanctions against Russia," foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement on behalf of the bloc.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Spanish PM sees possible 'genocide' in Ukraine
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Monday he saw signs of a possible "genocide" in Ukraine after claims that Russian forces committed atrocities against Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv. "We will do everything to ensure that those who have perpetrated these war crimes do not go unpunished, and therefore appear before the courts... to deal with these alleged cases of (crimes against) humanity, war crimes and why not say it too, genocide," he said.
"Putin's unjustified aggression has brought war back to the gates of the European Union", he told an economic forum in Madrid. Sanchez is one of the first European Union leaders to label Russia's actions in Ukraine a "genocide". Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Monday also called for an international investigation into what he termed a "genocide" carried out by Russian troops in Ukraine. Ukraine and Western leaders have erupted in outrage over the discovery of mass graves and hundreds of dead people in Bucha, a small town northwest of Kyiv.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Polish PM calls for international probe into Ukraine 'genocide'
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Monday called for an international investigation into what he termed a "genocide" carried out by Russian troops in Ukraine. "We are proposing an international commission to investigate this crime of genocide," he said, referring to the apparent killing of civilians in towns including Bucha near the capital Kyiv.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Russia refocusing on Donbas region: UK
build up both its soldiers and mercenaries in eastern Ukraine. “Russian forces are continuing to consolidate and reorganize as they refocus their offensive into the Donbas region in the east of Ukraine," the ministry said in an intelligence update posted on social media Monday. It says Russian troops are being moved into the area, along with mercenaries from the Wagner private military group.
Overnight, the U.K. said Russia was still trying to take the southern port city of Mariupol, which has seen weeks of intense fighting. It said “the city continues to be subject to intense, indiscriminate strikes, but Ukrainian Forces maintain a staunch resistance, retaining control in central areas.” The update added that “Mariupol is almost certainly a key objective of the Russian invasion as it will secure a land corridor from Russia to the occupied territory of Crimea,” which it annexed in 2014.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Emmanuel Macron says wants fresh sanctions against Russia
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he was in favour of new sanctions against Moscow after claims that Russian forces committed atrocities against Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv. "There are very clear indications of war crimes. It was the Russian army that was in Bucha," Macron told the France Inter broadcaster after the discovery of mass graves and hundreds of dead people northwest of Kyiv.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Russia seeks Monday UN Security Council meet on Bucha, Ukraine
Moscow has called for a special UN Security Council meeting Monday to address claims that Russian forces committed atrocities against Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv. "In the light of heinous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in #Bucha Russia requested a meeting of UN #SecurityCouncil on Monday April 4," Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday on Twitter.
Ukraine and Western leaders have erupted in outrage over the discovery of mass graves and hundreds of dead people in Bucha, a small town northwest of Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directly blamed Moscow for the "killings" of civilians. Russia denied the accusations and said Kyiv staged footage of the corpses.
A senior Washington official swiftly slammed Moscow's UN move and said it was designed to "feign outrage." "Russia is drawing from the playbook it used for Crimea & Aleppo: forced to defend the indefensible (here, the Bucha atrocities), Russia is calling a @UN Security Council meeting so it can feign outrage & call for accountability," tweeted Samantha Power, a former US ambassador to the UN. "Nobody is buying it," added Power, who is the current administrator of the US Agency for International Development. UN authorities have yet to publicly state whether a Security Council emergency meeting will take place Monday.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Russia seeks Monday UN Security Council meet on Bucha, Ukraine
Moscow has called for a special UN Security Council meeting Monday to address claims that Russian forces committed atrocities against Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv. "In the light of heinous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in #Bucha Russia requested a meeting of UN #SecurityCouncil on Monday April 4," Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday on Twitter.
Ukraine and Western leaders have erupted in outrage over the discovery of mass graves and hundreds of dead people in Bucha, a small town northwest of Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directly blamed Moscow for the "killings" of civilians. Russia denied the accusations and said Kyiv staged footage of the corpses.
A senior Washington official swiftly slammed Moscow's UN move and said it was designed to "feign outrage." "Russia is drawing from the playbook it used for Crimea & Aleppo: forced to defend the indefensible (here, the Bucha atrocities), Russia is calling a @UN Security Council meeting so it can feign outrage & call for accountability," tweeted Samantha Power, a former US ambassador to the UN. "Nobody is buying it," added Power, who is the current administrator of the US Agency for International Development. UN authorities have yet to publicly state whether a Security Council emergency meeting will take place Monday.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Satellite images show long trench at Ukrainian mass grave site, Maxar says
Satellite images show a 45-foot-long trench dug into the grounds of a Ukrainian church where a mass grave was found this week after Russian forces withdrew from the town of Bucha, a private U.S. company said on Sunday. Reuters journalists who visited Bucha on Saturday saw bodies lying on the streets of the town, 37 km (23 miles) northwest of the capital Kyiv. A mass grave at one church was still open, with hands and feet poking through the red clay heaped on top.
Ukraine accused Russian forces on Sunday of carrying out a "massacre" in the town, one of many recaptured by Ukrainian troops as Russia regrouped for battles in eastern Ukraine. Russia denied the allegations, calling them a "provocation" by Ukraine. Maxar Technologies, which collects and publishes satellite imagery of Ukraine, said the first signs of excavation for a mass grave at the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints were seen on March 10.
"More recent coverage on March 31st shows the grave site with an approximately 45-foot-long trench in the southwestern section of the area near the church," Maxar said. Reuters could not immediately verify the images. It was not clear if the images disseminated by Maxar were of the same church visited by Reuters journalists on Saturday.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Ukraine to probe alleged Russian atrocities
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the country will conduct a probe into alleged atrocities against civilians by Russian troops involving international investigators.Zelenskyy said in an address that “the world has seen many war crimes,” adding that “the time has come to make the war crimes committed by Russian troops the last such evil on Earth.” He said that a special justice mechanism will be created to investigate the Russian atrocities with participation of international prosecutors and judges.
Ukrainian authorities have said that the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been found in areas outside the Ukrainian capital after last week’s withdrawal of Russian troops — many with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture. International leaders have condemned the reported atrocities and called for tougher sanctions against Moscow. Russia has rejected the accusations of killing civilians as a “provocation” by Ukrainian authorities and initiated a meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the issue.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Russian attack is genocide: Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says in a US television interview that Russian attacks in Ukraine amount to genocide. Zelenskyy told CBS' Face the Nation Sunday that there are more than 100 nationalities in Ukraine and this is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities. We are citizens of Ukraine and we don't want to be subdued to the policy of Russian Federation. In an excerpt of the interview released by CBS before it aired, he says, This is the reason we are being destroyed and exterminated. And this is happening in the Europe of the 21st century. So this is the torture of the whole nation.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Japan condemns attacks on Ukraine civilians
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters Monday that he strongly condemned the reported attacks on civilians in Ukrainian towns on the outskirts of Kyiv “as violation to international law.” European leaders have already condemned the reported attacks, responding to images of bodies in the streets, including some with their hands tied behind their backs.
Kishida said “Japan will firmly carry out what it should do” while cooperating with the international society in possible further sanctions against Russia. “We must strongly condemn human rights problems and actions that violate international law,” Kishida added. Japan has imposed a series of sanctions against Russia in line with the United States and other Western nations.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Ukraine's leader asks help in Grammys video
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appeared in a video at the Grammy Awards asking for support in telling the story of Ukraine's invasion by Russia. During the pre-recorded message that aired on the show Sunday night, he spoke in English, likening the attack to a deadly silence threatening to extinguish the dreams and lives of the Ukrainian people, including children.
In his words: “Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals, even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway.” The Recording Academy, with its partner Global Citizen, prior to the ceremony highlighted a social media campaign called “Stand Up For Ukraine” to raise money and humanitarian support.
Zelenskyy told the audience: “Fill the silence with your music. Fill it today to tell our story. Tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on TV, support us in any way you can any, but not silence. And then peace will come to all our cities." Following Zelenskyy’s message, John Legend performed his song “Free” with Ukrainian musicians Siuzanna Iglidan and Mika Newton and poet Lyuba Yakimchuk as images from the war were shown on screens behind them.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Drug shortages persist in Russia after start of Ukraine war
First came the warnings, in messages among friends and families and on social media, to stock up on vital drugs in Russia before supplies were affected by crippling Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. Then, some drugs indeed became harder to find at pharmacies in Moscow and other cities. “Not a single pharmacy in the city has it now,” a resident of Kazan told The Associated Press in late March about a blood thinner her father needs.
Experts and health authorities in Russia say the drug shortages are temporary — due to panic- buying and logistical difficulties for suppliers from the sanctions — but some remain worried that high-quality medicines will keep disappearing in the Russian market. “Most likely there will be shortages. How catastrophic it will be, I don't know,” said Dr. Alexey Erlikh, head of the cardiac intensive care unit in Moscow Hospital No. 29, and a professor at the Moscow-based Pirogov Medical University.
Reports that Russians could not find certain medications in pharmacies started surfacing in early March, shortly after Moscow unleashed a war on Ukraine, and sweeping sanctions left Russia increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. Patient’s Monitor, a patients' rights group in the Russian region of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea, began getting complaints in the second week of March.
Ziyautdin Uvaysov, head of the group, told AP he personally checked with several state-run pharmacies in the region on the availability of 10 most-wanted medications and "they didn’t have a large number of these.” Uvaysov added that when he asked about when supplies would be restocked, the pharmacies replied that "there aren’t any and it’s unclear when there will be.” Despite assurances from authorities that hoarding of supplies was to blame for the quickly emptying shelves, reports about shortages persisted throughout March.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Volodymyr Zelensky calls Russian troops murderers, outrage grows over 'war crimes'
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russian troops "murderers, torturers, rapists, looters" on Monday after dozens of bodies were found near Kyiv, triggering global outrage and vows of tough new sanctions on Moscow. Local authorities said they had been forced to dig communal graves to bury the dead accumulating in the streets, including some found with their hands bound behind their backs, in scenes that sent shockwaves through international capitals more than a month into Russia's invasion.
Despite Russian denials of responsibility, condemnation was swift, with Western leaders, NATO and the UN all voicing horror at reports of civilian murders in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, and elsewhere. Zelensky was unsparing in his nightly video message, warning "concentrated evil has come to our land". He described Russian troops as "murderers, torturers, rapists, looters, who call themselves the army and who deserve only death after what they did", speaking in Ukrainian.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Ukraine's leader asks help in Grammys video
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appeared in a video at the Grammy Awards asking for support in telling the story of Ukraine's invasion by Russia. During the message that aired on the show Sunday night, he likened the attack to a deadly silence threatening to extinguish the dreams and lives of the Ukrainian people, including children.
In his words: “Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals, even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway.” The Recording Academy, with its partner Global Citizen, prior to the ceremony highlighted a social media campaign called “Stand Up For Ukraine” to raise money and humanitarian support.
Zelenskyy told the audience: “Fill the silence with your music. Fill it today to tell our story. Tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on TV, support us in any way you can any, but not silence. And then peace will come to all our cities." Following Zelenskyy’s message, John Legend performed his song “Free” with Ukrainian musicians Siuzanna Iglidan and Mika Newton and poet Lyuba Yakimchuk as images from the war were shown on screens behind them.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Russia seeks Monday UN Security Council meet on Bucha, Ukraine
Moscow has called for a special UN Security Council meeting Monday to address claims that Russian forces committed atrocities against Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv. "In the light of heinous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in #Bucha Russia requested a meeting of UN #SecurityCouncil on Monday April 4," Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday on Twitter.
Ukraine and Western leaders have erupted in outrage over the discovery of mass graves and hundreds of dead people in Bucha, a small town northwest of Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directly blamed Moscow for the "killings" of civilians. Russia denied the accusations and said Kyiv staged footage of the corpses.
A senior Washington official swiftly slammed Moscow's UN move and said it was designed to "feign outrage." "Russia is drawing from the playbook it used for Crimea & Aleppo: forced to defend the indefensible (here, the Bucha atrocities), Russia is calling a @UN Security Council meeting so it can feign outrage & call for accountability," tweeted Samantha Power, a former US ambassador to the UN. "Nobody is buying it," added Power, who is the current administrator of the US Agency for International Development. UN authorities have yet to publicly state whether a Security Council emergency meeting will take place Monday.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | 'Fill the silence with your music,' Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells Grammys
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared in a video message at the Grammy Awards to ask for support in telling the story of Ukraine’s invasion by Russia. During the message that aired on the show Sunday, he likened the invasion to a deadly silence threatening to extinguish the dreams and lives of the Ukrainian people, including children.
“Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals, even to those who can’t hear them,” he said. “But the music will break through anyway.” The Recording Academy, with its partner Global Citizen, prior to the ceremony highlighted a social media campaign called “Stand Up For Ukraine” to raise money and support during the humanitarian crisis.
“Fill the silence with your music. Fill it today to tell our story. Tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on TV, support us in any way you can any, but not silence. And then peace will come to all our cities,” Zelenskyy said. Following Zelenskyy’s message, John Legend performed his song “Free” with Ukrainian musicians Siuzanna Iglidan and Mika Newton, and poet Lyuba Yakimchuk, as images from the war were shown on screens behind them.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Ukraine urges more sanctions over atrocities
Ukraine's top diplomat has called for tougher sanctions on Russia over growing evidence of a massacre of civilians in the suburbs of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Ukrainian officials said earlier Sunday that scores of killed civilians have been found on the streets of Kyiv' suburbs of Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel after the withdrawal of Russian troops.
They said that some of the victims were shot in the head and had their hands bound. Ukrainian officials said earlier Sunday that scores of killed civilians have been found on the streets of Kyiv' suburbs of Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel after the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Sunday that the killings were "deliberate, adding that Russians aim to eliminate as many Ukrainians as they can. He urged the West to impose an oil, gas and coal embargo, and close all ports to Russian vessels and goods. He also called for all Russian banks to be disconnected from the SWIFT international payment system. In Germany President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Berlin that the war crimes committed by Russia are visible before the eyes of the world.
German news agency dpa reported that Steinmeier said the images from Bucha shake me, they shake us deeply. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock pledged to tighten sanctions against Russia but did not give details.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Russian attack is genocide: Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says in a US television interview that Russian attacks in Ukraine amount to genocide. Zelenskyy told CBS' Face the Nation Sunday that there are more than 100 nationalities in Ukraine and this is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities. We are citizens of Ukraine and we don't want to be subdued to the policy of Russian Federation. In an excerpt of the interview released by CBS before it aired, he says, This is the reason we are being destroyed and exterminated. And this is happening in the Europe of the 21st century. So this is the torture of the whole nation.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | US fully backs sending Ukraine weapons, aid
White House chief of staff Ron Klain says the US remains fully committed to providing a full range of economic and military support to Ukraine in its war against Russia, which he describes as far from over. Klain credits Ukrainians for fighting off Russian troops in the northern part of Ukraine and says the US and its allies are sending weapons into the country almost every single day.
But he also tells ABC's This Week that there are signs that Russian President Vladimir Putin is redeploying Russian troops to the eastern part of Ukraine. Klain says while it will be up to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to decide if the political endgame is to allow Russia to occupy the eastern part of Ukraine, from the US standpoint, the military future of this attack has to be push back.
He says regarding a potential Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine: I will tell you, as President Zelenskyy has said, that's not acceptable to him, and we are going to support him with military aid, with economic aid, with humanitarian aid.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Residents say Russian troops killed civilian
Residents of the Ukrainian town of Bucha near the capital of Kyiv have given harrowing accounts of how Russian troops shot and killed civilians without any apparent reason. Bodies of civilians lay strewn across the northern town, which was controlled by Russian soldiers for about a month.
At a logistics compound that residents say was used as a base by Russian forces, the bodies of 8 men could be seen dumped on the ground, some with their hands tied behind their backs. Residents say Russian troops would go from building to building, take people out of the basements where they were hiding from the fighting, check their phones for evidence of anti-Russian activity and take them away or shoot them.
Russia's Defense Ministry has rejected the claims of atrocities against civilians in Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv as a provocation. The ministry says that not a single civilian has faced any violent action by the Russian military in Bucha. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told a U.S. television interview Sunday that Russian attacks in Ukraine amount to genocide.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | 410 civilian bodies found near Kyiv: Ukraine
Ukraine has found 410 bodies in towns near Kyiv as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russia but some witnesses are so traumatised by their ordeal that they are unable to speak, the country's top prosecutor said on Sunday. After Russia withdrew from some areas around Kyiv, the mayor in Bucha, a liberated town 37 km (23 miles) northwest of the capital, said that 300 residents had been killed by Russian forces while Chechen fighters controlled the area.
Russia has denied the allegations that it troops killed civilians in Bucha. Moscow says no residents suffered from any violence from Russian forces and accused Kyiv of staging what it cast as a provocation confected for Western media. Ukrainian prosecutors were only able to enter the towns of Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel for the first time on Sunday and they need more time to work out the extent of the crimes, Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova said.
"We need to work with witnesses," Venedyktova said. "People today are so stressed that they are physically unable to speak." She said 140 of the bodies had been examined so far but that she would be asking the health ministry to provide as many forensic experts as possible to a field hospital in Kyiv region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: "Hundreds of people were killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Corpses on the streets. Mined areas. Even the bodies of the dead were mined."
Zelenskiy said it was clear the West would impose a new set of sanctions on Russia, but he said that was not enough. Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy said it was clear hundreds of civilians had been killed, but that he did not want to say exactly how many there were, as efforts were still under way to clear mines in the area. "Many local residents are considered missing. We cannot give an exact figure, but there are a lot of people," he said.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Region cut off from aid to reopen: Ukraine
The Ukrainian military says that its forces have retaken some towns in the Chernihiv region and that humanitarian aid is being delivered. The news agency RBK Ukraina says the road between Chernihiv and the capital of Kyiv is to reopen to some traffic later Monday. Chernihiv is a city 80 miles north of Kyiv and it had been cut off from shipments of food and other supplies for weeks. The mayor said Sunday that relentless Russian shelling had destroyed 70% of the city. In other areas recently retaken from Russian troops, Ukrainian officials say they have recovered hundreds of slain civilians in the past few days. Ukraine’s prosecutor-general says the bodies of 410 civilians have been recovered from Kyiv-area towns.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | UK says alleged attacks on civilians in Ukraine must be investigated as war crimes
Allegations of attacks against civilians during Russia's invasion of Ukraine must be investigated as war crimes, Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said, adding that the UK would fully support any such move by the International Criminal Court. "As Russian troops are forced into retreat, we are seeing increasing evidence of appalling acts by the invading forces in towns such as Irpin and Bucha," Truss said in a statement, referring to places near Kyiv. "Their indiscriminate attacks against innocent civilians during Russia's illegal and unjustified invasion of Ukraine must be investigated as war crimes." Russia has previously denied targetting civilians and rejected allegations of war crimes in what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Blasts heard in Russian city of Belgorod near border with Ukraine
Two blasts were heard in the Russian city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine on Sunday, two witnesses told Reuters, days after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of striking a fuel depot there. The cause of the blasts was not immediately clear. One witness said the blasts were so powerful that they rattled the windows of her home in Belgorod.
The blasts come days after Russia's defence ministry said two Ukrainian helicopters struck a fuel depot in the city, some 35 km (22 miles) from the border with Ukraine, after entering Russia at extremely low altitude in the early hours of Friday. The Kremlin said the incident could undermine peace efforts, while a top Ukrainian security official denied responsibility.
A local official from the region around Belgorod said there had been a blast in the village of Tomarovka on Sunday but that no one had been hurt and no property damaged. "There was a bang, debris fell onto the ground," Oleg Medvedev, head of the Yakovlevsky city district outside Belgorod, wrote on the Telegram messenger application. He did not elaborate on the nature of the debris nor on the cause of the blast. It was unclear if the blast described by Medvedev was one of the blasts heard by the witnesses.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Russia war could further escalate auto prices and shortages
BMW has halted production at two German factories. Mercedes is slowing work at its assembly plants. Volkswagen, warning of production stoppages, is looking for alternative sources for parts. For more than a year, the global auto industry has struggled with a disastrous shortage of computer chips and other vital parts that has shrunk production, slowed deliveries and sent prices for new and used cars soaring beyond reach for millions of consumers.
Now, a new factor — Russia’s war against Ukraine — has thrown up yet another obstacle. Critically important electrical wiring, made in Ukraine, is suddenly out of reach. With buyer demand high, materials scarce and the war causing new disruptions, vehicle prices are expected to head even higher well into next year. The war’s damage to the auto industry has emerged first in Europe. But U.S. production will likely suffer eventually, too, if Russian exports of metals — from palladium for catalytic converters to nickel for electric vehicle batteries — are cut off.
“You only need to miss one part not to be able to make a car,” said Mark Wakefield, co-leader of consulting firm Alix Partners’ global automotive unit. “Any bump in the road becomes either a disruption of production or a vastly unplanned-for cost increase.” Supply problems have bedeviled automakers since the pandemic erupted two years ago, at times shuttering factories and causing vehicle shortages. The robust recovery that followed the recession caused demand for autos to vastly outstrip supply — a mismatch that sent prices for new and used vehicles skyrocketing well beyond overall high inflation.
In the United States, the average price of a new vehicle is up 13% in the past year, to $45,596, according to Edmunds.com. Average used prices have surged far more: They’re up 29% to $29,646 as of February. Before the war, S&P Global Mobility had predicted that global automakers would build 84 million vehicles this year and 91 million next year. (By comparison, they built 94 million in 2018.) Now it’s forecasting fewer than 82 million in 2022 and 88 million next year.
Russia Ukraine News LIVE Updates | Ukraine accuses Russia of massacre, city strewn with bodies
Bodies with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture lay scattered in a city on the outskirts of Kyiv after Russian soldiers withdrew from the area. Ukrainian authorities accused the departing forces on Sunday of committing war crimes and leaving behind a “scene from a horror movie.” As images of the bodies began to emerge from Bucha, a slew of European leaders condemned the atrocities and called for tougher sanctions against Moscow. In a sign of how the horrific reports shook many leaders, Germany's defense minister even suggested that the European Union consider banning Russian gas imports.
So far, the bodies of 410 civilians have been found in Kyiv-area towns that were recently retaken from Russian forces, Ukraine’s prosecutor-general, Iryna Venediktova, said. Associated Press journalists saw the bodies of at least 21 people in various spots around Bucha, northwest of the capital. One group of nine, all in civilian clothes, were scattered around a site that residents said Russian troops used as a base. They appeared to have been killed at close range. At least two had their hands tied behind their backs, one was shot in the head, and another's legs were bound.
Ukrainian officials laid the blame for the killings in Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs squarely at the feet of Russian troops, with the president calling them evidence of genocide. But Russia’s Defense Ministry rejected the accusations as “provocation.” The discoveries followed the Russian retreat from the area around the capital, territory that has seen heavy fighting since troops invaded Ukraine from three directions on Feb. 24. Troops who swept in from Belarus to the north spent weeks trying to clear a path to Kyiv, but their advance stalled in the face of resolute defense from Ukraine’s forces.
Moscow now says it is focusing its offensive on the country's east, but it also pressed a siege on a city in the north and continued to strike cities elsewhere in a war that has left thousands dead and forced more than 4 million Ukrainians to flee their country. Russian troops rolled into Bucha in the early days of the invasion and stayed up to March 30. With those forces gone, residents gave harrowing accounts Sunday, saying soldiers shot and killed civilians without any apparent reason.
