Leaders call for new sanctions and war crimes probe as provocations escalate
Russia-Ukraine War News: Kyiv: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov opposes Ukraine’s explanation for the incident in the city of Bucha. The Tass news agency reported that Sergei Lavrov had said that the attack was a ploy to suppress Russia.
Ukrainian officials said Sunday that they were investigating the actions of Russian forces in the incident where hundreds of bodies were found in cities such as Bucha, just outside the capital Kyiv, after Russia’s withdrawal.
Lavrov also alleged that the pictures were fabricated when the bodies were found. Lavrov also pointed out that false images were spread by Ukraine and Western countries on social media.
Selensky calls Russian forces ‘butchers’, world leaders condemn atrocities
World leaders have condemned Russia’s killing of civilians in Ukraine, and called for new sanctions and war crimes investigations in the wake of the escalating provocation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky has called the Russian army “killers”, “persecutors” and “rapists” after the bodies of hundreds of Ukrainians were found on the streets of cities around Kiev. He vowed to investigate and prosecute all Russian crimes in Ukraine, and said special arrangements had been made for that.
Russian shelling: Seven killed in Harkiv
Seven people have been killed in a Russian shelling in Harkiv, regional prosecutors say. Thirty-four people were injured, including three kitties. Authorities said 10 houses and a trolleybus depot were damaged. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said they had rescued 2,694 people from the Mariupol and Luhansk regions, where the attack continues. The Deputy Prime Minister said that he was in talks with Russia to smuggle Red Cross buses.
Bodies of 410 civilians were recovered
Ukraine’s prosecutor general says the bodies of 410 civilians have been found in cities near Kiev. Residents of Bucha, near Kiev, have given painful descriptions of how Russian troops shot dead civilians, the news agency Archyde.com reported.
Locals say Russian troops stormed each building, pulled them out of the bunker, checked their phones and took away and shot anyone who saw anti-Russian content.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian military generals said in a statement on Sunday that Russian units had withdrawn from the northern part of Ukraine to neighboring Belarus, where the Russian occupation had begun. Dmitry Schwitzky, the local ruler, said that Russian troops had withdrawn from the Sumi region in northeastern Ukraine and that Ukraine had recaptured some towns in the Chernivtsi region.
New Zealand PM condemns Ukraine killings
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Arden on Monday condemned reports of rape and other atrocities by Russian troops in Ukraine.
“Reports that Russian forces have killed, raped and seriously injured Ukrainian civilians are reprehensible,” Jacinda told reporters in the New Zealand capital, Wellington. “Russia must answer to the world,” she said.
Also Read: Russia-Ukraine War News: Selensky says Russian attacks are tantamount to genocide