© KEYSTONE / AP / Petros Giannakouris
The European Union is “urgently” discussing new sanctions against Moscow, demanded in particular by France and Germany, after the discovery of a large number of civilian bodies in the kyiv region, the High Representative of EU Josep Borrell.
The EU “condemns in the strongest terms the reported atrocities committed by Russian armed forces in several occupied Ukrainian towns, which have now been liberated,” Borrell added in a statement.
A new set of sanctions is under discussion between the 27, but unanimity is necessary for the adoption of new measures.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on Monday of individual sanctions and measures on “coal and oil”, but he did not mention gas purchases, a subject of division between Europeans.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had also called for new sanctions on Sunday after the discovery of the bodies of civilians in Boutcha, near kyiv, murders attributed to the Russian army which he described as “war crimes”.
A meeting of EU foreign ministers is scheduled for April 11 in Luxembourg and an extraordinary European summit devoted to the conflict in Ukraine, the economic situation and European defense is scheduled “at the end of April beginning of May”, indicated the services of Josep Borrell.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Monday called for the creation of an international commission of inquiry into “the genocide” he says was committed by the Russian army in Ukrainian towns, including Boutcha, where the bodies of 410 civilians were discovered after the withdrawal of Russian troops, according to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
Moscow denounces a “provocation”
Russia announced Monday that it would investigate a “provocation” aimed at “discrediting” Russian forces in Ukraine, after the discovery of a large number of dead civilians in Boutcha, near kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday accused Russia of committing “genocide” in Ukraine the day after the discovery.
The head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered to “give a judicial assessment of the provocation on the part of Ukraine regarding the killing of civilians in Boutcha”, said in a press release this body responsible for the main investigations. criminals in the country.
“In order to discredit the Russian military, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released to Western media images shot in Boutcha, in the Kyiv region, as evidence of a mass killing of civilians,” accuses the press release.
“According to information from the Russian Ministry of Defense, all the materials disseminated by the kyiv regime on the crimes of the Russian military in this locality do not correspond to reality and are provocative in nature,” he said.
According to the same source, Mr Bastrykin ordered to take “comprehensive measures” to identify all those involved and establish whether they should be prosecuted for spreading “false information” about the Russian army, a crime appearing in the criminal code. Russian after the offensive in Ukraine and liable to 15 years in prison.
Bombings in the south
Eight people were killed and 34 injured in bombardments by Russian forces on Sunday on the towns of Ochakiv and Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said on Monday.
“As a result of enemy shelling, seven residents of the city of Ochakiv were killed and 20 others injured. In the city of Mykolaiv, one person was killed and 14 others injured, including a child,” the official said. floor in a press release.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the shots by the Russian forces damaged homes and civilian infrastructure as well as vehicles.
Lock town on the road to Odessa, the largest port in Ukraine, Mykolaiv, 475,000 inhabitants before the war, was long pounded when the Russian army had tried in vain to seize it.
The Russian noose seemed to loosen there in recent days.
The port of Otchakiv, 15,000 inhabitants, on the shores of the Black Sea, was one of the first targets of the Russian invasion on February 24.