Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky again condemns the atrocities on civilians
Kramatorsk:
Ukraine said on Sunday it had found more than 1,200 bodies in the Kyiv region, the scene of atrocities allegedly committed during the Russian occupation last month, as residents in the east of the country feared a mass attack before — or part of. Went ahead.
Ukraine was heavily bombed during the weekend, increasing the number of casualties in Russia’s invasion of its neighbor in six weeks.
Shelling killed two people in Ukraine’s second largest city, northeast Kharkiv, on Sunday morning, a day after 10 civilians, including a child, were killed in a bombing southeast of the city, according to officials.
“The Russian army continues to wage war on civilians due to the lack of victory at the front,” Synagoubov said on Telegram.
In Dnipro, a large industrial city with a population of one million, a rain of Russian missiles nearly destroyed the local airport, causing an uncertain number of casualties, local officials said. It was already killed on 15 March.
President Volodymyr Zelensky again condemned the atrocities against civilians, and after speaking with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he agreed that “all perpetrators of war crimes should be identified and punished”.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova said the country is investigating the alleged culpability of 500 prominent Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, for thousands of war crimes.
And White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan promised that the US would “work with the international community to ensure” that it is accountable for “mass atrocities”.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis called for an Easter ceasefire to pave the way for peace, condemning a war where “defenseless civilians” suffered “heinous massacres and dastardly cruelty”.
‘ready to fight’
The death toll also rose in the east of Ukraine, where a missile attack on Friday killed 57 people at a railway station in the city of Krematoresk, according to a revised tally released by Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kirilenko.
Zelensky said residents in the east are fleeing in the thousands as Ukraine prepares for a “significant battle” against Moscow’s forces.
“We see preparations for important battles, some say decisive in the east,” he told a news conference with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehmer on Saturday.
“We are prepared to fight and look in parallel to end this war through diplomacy.”
Launching his own diplomatic initiative, Nehmer said he would meet with Putin on Monday, with his spokesman insisting that coordination was done with “Berlin, Brussels and … Zelensky”. Austria is a member of the European Union, but not of NATO.
Nehmer will be the first European leader to visit the Kremlin since the invasion began on 24 February.
The United Nations said on Sunday that Ukraine has so far suffered 4,232 civilian casualties, with 1,793 people killed and 2,439 injured.
Ukrainian prosecutor Venediktova said 1,222 bodies had been found so far in the vicinity of Kyiv alone.
At least two bodies were found inside a manhole at a petrol station on a motorway outside Kyiv on Sunday, an AFP reporter observed.
The bodies appeared to be wearing a mix of civilian and military clothing.
A distraught woman peered into the manhole before breaking down, pawing at the ground and shouting, “My son, my son”.
strict economic outlook
The war is also taking a toll on the economy of the region. The World Bank issued a grim forecast on Sunday, saying Ukraine’s economy would shrink by 45.1 percent this year – a much bleaker outlook than a month ago – while Russia would see a 11.2 percent drop in GDP.
Ukraine on Sunday blamed Kremlin propaganda in collusion with the Russian media for laying the foundation for a bloody campaign.
Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba tweeted on Sunday: “For many years, the Russian political elite and propaganda have been inciting hatred, dehumanizing Ukrainians, nurturing Russian superiority and preparing the ground for these atrocities.” Huh.”
But in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Kuleba said he was ready to hold talks with the Russians.
“If sitting down with the Russians will help me prevent at least one massacre in Buka, or at least another attack such as in Kramatorsk, I have to take advantage of that opportunity,” he said.
Buka – where officials say hundreds were killed, some with their hands tied – has become a derision for the brutality allegedly committed under Russian occupation.
‘Rockets keep flying’
The remarks came after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s sudden visit to Kyiv on Saturday.
Appreciating the country’s response to the Russian offensive, Johnson offered Ukraine armored vehicles and anti-ship missiles, vital to deter the Russian naval siege of Black Sea ports, to ensure that the country But “will never be attacked again”.
To shore up international resolve against Moscow, US President Joe Biden is to hold virtual talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, just weeks after saying India was “unstable” in its response to the invasion.
A US spokesman said the two leaders would discuss ways to address the “destabilizing effect of the war” on the global food supply and commodity markets.
At the same time, EU foreign ministers are due to meet on Monday to discuss a sixth round of sanctions, even as divisions over sanctions on Russia’s gas and oil imports threaten to blunt their impact. .
In further Russian attacks, the airport in Dnipro between central and eastern Ukraine was badly hit.
An AFP reporter saw black smoke in the sky over the facility, but a plane also took off later on Sunday, showing that its runway was still functional.
‘new normal’
As Russian forces regroup in Ukraine’s east and south, local officials are urging residents to flee before it’s too late.
Lugansk Governor Sergei Gede said in a new video that citizens were afraid to flee the area after the tragedy in Kramatorsk.
We “evacuated 2,700-2,500 people per day, but now there are fewer and fewer,” he said.
“I’m sure 20-25 percent of the population of the region is still there,” he said.
“Unfortunately, sometimes we simply ask (them) to come out of hiding because we know what will happen next…” the Russian military said, “will destroy everything in their path”.
Meanwhile, a Russian Defense Ministry statement said Kyiv officials and their Western allies had continued to carry out “monstrous and merciless” provocations and killing of civilians in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic in the southeast.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)