The night of the war at a glance
Ukraine counts 600 prisoners of war – Moscow calls on Mariupol to surrender
04/05/2022, 06:50 am
Outrage over war crimes against civilians in the village of Bucha continues. The Ukrainian judiciary is now investigating hundreds of indications of further massacres in the Kyiv region. President Selenskyj calls for a complete investigation of the crimes. Meanwhile, the Russian army is again calling on the defenders of the besieged city of Mariupol to surrender.
Russia calls on Ukrainian army in Mariupol to surrender
The Russian army has again called on the Ukrainian forces in Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks, to lay down their arms. The soldiers should be able to leave the port city safely in the morning via a corridor towards the areas controlled by Kyiv, said Major General Mikhail Mizintsev of the Russian Defense Ministry. “All who lay down their arms are guaranteed life,” he said.
Justice counts hundreds of atrocities in the Kyiv region
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, more than 7,000 reports of Russian war crimes in the region around the capital Kyiv were recorded. Most of the victims were in Borodyanka, said Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, according to the Unian agency. “I think we will talk about Borodyanka separately.” The Attorney General’s Office is working on investigating war crimes in Irpin, Bucha and Worsel.
Selenskyj demands clarification of massacres
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy assured that those responsible for the atrocities will be held accountable. “The time will come when every Russian will learn the whole truth about which of their fellow citizens[in Ukraine]committed the murders. Who gave the orders. Who turned a blind eye to the murders,” said the Ukrainian president. He invited journalists from all over the world to look at the destroyed cities. “Let the world see what Russia has done!” Zelenskyy, who visited Bucha on Monday, fears that Russian troops are now trying to “cover the tracks of their crimes”.
US satellite images confirm bodies in Bucha before Russian withdrawal
Meanwhile, US satellite images refute the Russian thesis that some of the bodies found in Bucha were only dumped there after Russian troops withdrew. The “high-resolution” images “confirm recent videos and photos on social media showing bodies that have been lying in the streets for weeks,” a spokesman for US satellite imaging company Maxar Technologies said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense had described the images as “fake”. Accordingly, the bodies were not there when the Russian forces withdrew on March 30. However, Maxar satellite images from March 19 and 21 show that already at that time there were several bodies on Yablonska Street in Bucha.
Deaths and injuries in air raids
Several people were killed and injured in Russian attacks on the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, according to Ukrainian sources. The governor of the region, Vitaly Kim, reported 11 dead and 62 injured. During the night air raids were also raised in the Poltava, Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk oblasts and in the Sumy, Chernihiv, Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts.
Ukraine has 600 prisoners of war
Around 600 Russian soldiers are in captivity in Ukraine, as Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, according to the “Ukrajinska Pravda” in the standard program of Ukrainian television. They are looking for ways to reach Ukrainians in Russian POWs through the Red Cross and want to persuade Russia to release them.
CSU demands more weapons for Ukraine
In view of the atrocities in Butscha, CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt called on the federal government to support Ukraine with further arms deliveries. “The pictures from Bucha hit the marrow and bone and show an indescribable breach of civilization in Russia,” Dobrindt told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “We now need to further strengthen Ukraine’s defense capability with weapons, protected vehicles and reconnaissance technology with drones, which not only have to be supplied by the Bundeswehr, but also by industry.”
That’s going to be important today
- The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense expects further attacks on the city of Kharkiv. Russian troops were preparing to take the city, Defense Ministry spokesman Olexander Motusyanyk said, according to Ukrayinska Pravda.
- With a supporters’ conference in Berlin, Foreign Minister Baerbock wants to boost international aid for the Republic of Moldova, which is visited by many Ukrainian war refugees. The supply of the refugees and the increased energy prices should play a role.
- President Zelenskyy wants to address the members of the United Nations Security Council via video link.
All further developments can be found in our live ticker on the Ukraine war read.