As mentioned earlier this morning, Ukraine has accused Russian forces of carrying out a “massacre” in Bucha, a city near Kiev, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has described images of dead bodies there as a “blow to the stomach”.
Here’s what else you need to know.
On earth
Russian forces have fired on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, killing seven people and wounding 34, the regional prosecutor’s office said.
Meanwhile, the governor of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region said the shelling had continued all night and day, describing a “turbulent” situation in the region.
Two explosions were heard in the Russian city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine, two witnesses told Reuters, days after Russia accused Ukrainian forces of attacking a fuel depot there. And Russian missiles hit “critical infrastructure,” most likely a fuel depot near Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa, but there were no casualties, city officials said.
Civil
A leading human rights group says it has documented what it describes as “apparent war crimes” committed by Russian military forces against civilians in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have found 410 bodies in cities near Kiev as part of an investigation into possible war crimes committed by Russia.
And the country has evacuated 2694 people from conflict zones in the southeastern port of Mariupol and the Luhansk region, says Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
Economy
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Ukraine has demanded crippling new sanctions against Russia from major Western powers because of what it called a “massacre” in Bucha.
Germany said the West would agree to impose more sanctions on Russia in the coming days, with the German defense minister saying the European Union should discuss stopping Russian gas imports. It comes as the Polish prime minister says the EU must impose tougher sanctions on Russia and supply Ukraine with more weapons.
Diplomacy
Russia will achieve all the goals of its “special military operation” in Ukraine and hopes that Moscow and Kiev can eventually sign some kind of peace agreement, the Kremlin said, according to Inferfax news agency.
Russia says peace talks with Ukraine have not reached a meeting between the two countries’ leaders and that Moscow’s position on Crimea and Donba’s status remains unchanged.
Reuters