On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russian forces of committing genocide after the discovery of mass graves in the town of Bucha near Kyiv following the withdrawal of Russia’s military from northern parts of Ukraine.
The mayor of Bucha, Anatoly Fedoruk, said people in the city were “executed” by the Russian forces. AFP reporters confirmed that they saw at least 20 bodies in civilian clothing on a single street.
Powerful, passionate address from Zelensky tonight. Switching from Ukrainian to Russian he addresses mothers of soldiers who committed horrific war crimes in Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, asking how they raised “butchers,” and he tells Moscow to see how it’s orders are being fulfilled. pic.twitter.com/7UyYxqiY4V
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) April 3, 2022
In an interview with CBS, Zelensky talked about the mass graves in Bucha, where Ukrainian officials estimate that about 400 civilian bodies were buried, saying, “This is genocide. The elimination of the whole nation and the people.” The Ukrainian President apologised to the American viewers as he explained how Ukrainian authorities had found bodies “with hands tied behind their back[s] and decapitated,” which was later verified by the Washington Post.
United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken described images from Bucha as “a punch to the gut” as Western countries deliberate on tougher sanctions on Russia. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called for Russia’s actions to be investigated as “war crimes.”
As the whole world watches in horror the images from #Kyiv region, Germany 🇩🇪 allows #Russia supporters rally. @OlafScholz come to #Bucha and talk about freedom of assembly to parents who watched their daughters raped and children who saw their parents shot. pic.twitter.com/GWyjj1RZzo
— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) April 3, 2022
In response, Russia’s Ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, asserted that Moscow “fully rejects these false accusations” and instead accused Ukrainian officials of fabricating claims about shelling Bucha. Antonov said Russian troops evacuated Bucha on March 30 and questioned why Ukrainian authorities took so long to make the news public.
On multiple occasions since the start of the war, Ukraine has called for a war crimes investigation into Russia’s actions. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has already launched an investigation into Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Germany’s Minister of Defence, Christine Lambrecht, called for the European Union (EU) to consider a ban on Russian energy exports, a move Berlin has previously been hesitant about.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed that it had conducted a high-precision missile strike on an oil refinery and storage located in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa. Moscow claimed that the facility was providing the Ukrainian forces with fuel. However, authorities in Ukraine said they managed to shoot down some missiles, thus reducing the possible damage.
The approximate change of the situation in Ukraine over the last 7 days.
— Ukraine War Map (@War_Mapper) April 4, 2022
000 UTC Monday 28/03 --> 0000 UTC Monday 04/04.#UkraineCrisis #UkraineUnderAttack #Breaking #Kyiv #Kharkiv #Odesa #UkraineRussiaWar pic.twitter.com/gAKAzrkXoD
In addition, on Saturday, Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian Mi-28 N attack helicopter in the Luhansk region with the help of the British Starstreak missile — supposedly the fastest ground-to-air missile in the world. The United Kingdom (UK) had announced to send Starstreak high velocity and portable anti-air missiles to Ukraine earlier this month following Zelensky’s request to dispatch more military equipment. In response, Russia’s Ambassador to the UK, Andrey Kelin, warned on Sunday that British weapons supplied to Ukraine would be “legitimate targets” for the Russian forces.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the US committed an additional $300 million in military aid to Ukraine, including armed drones, laser-guided rocket systems, machine guns, armoured off-road vehicles, night vision and thermal imaging devices, which it said underscores its “unwavering commitment” to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. This brings the Biden administration’s assistance since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24 to $2.3 billion. Furthermore, a spending bill worth an additional $13.6 billion was signed last month for humanitarian and military assistance to the war-torn country.
Ukrainian Presidential Aide Mykhailo Podolyak has said that Russia now wants to focus on gaining control in the east and south, adding that the conflict is expected to intensify near Donbas and the besieged port city of Mariupol. To this end, an anonymous US official revealed to The New York Times that US President Joe Biden will be sending Soviet-era tanks to help in conducting long-range artillery strikes on Russian targets in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Against this backdrop, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky will meet in Turkey in the near future. However, Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, contradicted Arakhamia’s claims, saying that the peace talks between the two countries had not progressed enough to warrant a top-level meeting between Putin and Zelensky.