Russia’s war in Ukraine is taking on a new dimension with growing evidence of human rights atrocities by Vladimir Putin’s troops, accused of murdering civilians and other barbaric acts as they retreated from the Kyiv region.
Despite Moscow’s blanket denials, horrific discoveries of Russian abuses are coming to light in several areas.
As Putin’s forces concentrate on eastern Ukraine, NATO has promised more weapons to Kyiv and Western nations are tightening sanctions against Moscow.
Follow our latest updates from the war in our blog below, and watch TV coverage in the görüntü player above.
Borodyanka destruction ‘more horrific’ than Bucha, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday night that work has begun to dig through the rubble in Borodyanka, another city northwest of Kyiv that was occupied by the Russians.
He described the situation as “more horrific” there than in Bucha, where images of civilian bodies lying strewn in the streets caused a küresel outcry. “There are more victims” in Borodyanka, Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova announced on Facebook on Thursday that 26 bodies have been pulled out by Ukrainian rescue workers from the rubble of two apartment buildings in the town.
In his daily nighttime görüntü address to the nation on Thursday, Zelenskyy said the Russians were preparing to shock the world in the same way by showing corpses in Mariupol and falsely claiming they were killed by the Ukrainian defenders.
Meanwhile, Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said Thursday on Ukrainian television that investigators have found at least three sites of mass shootings of civilians during the Russian occupation.
Fedoruk said hundreds have been killed and investigators are finding bodies in yards, parks and city squares.
(with AP, AFP)
Friday’s key points:
- Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy says the situation in Borodyanka northwest of Kyiv is “more horrific” than Bucha, with even more victims as work begins to dig through the rubble after the Russian occupation.
- President Biden said the images out of Bucha and other areas of Ukraine as Russian troops withdraw are “horrifying” and “an outrage to our common humanity”.
- EU national representatives agreed on a fifth package of sanctions against Russia that includes an embargo on Russian coal imports and a ban on Russian ships in EU ports.
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell are expected to visit Kyiv on Friday to see President Zelenskyy.
- The EU has proposed to increase weapons contributions to Ukraine by €500 million to a total of €1.5 billion, Council President Charles Michel said late on Thursday.
- NATO’s chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was ready to provide more arms for Ukraine, without giving details. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba attending a NATO meeting in Brussels had called for ‘weapons, weapons and weapons”.
- United Nations countries voted 93-24 in favour of suspending Russia’s membership in the international body’s Human Rights Council as the world calls out Russian atrocities in Ukraine.
Good morning, this is Alasdair Sandford with the latest updates on the war in Ukraine following the Russian invasion.
For a summary of Thursday’s developments, click here.
