Ukraine: Germany accuses Russia of 'war crimes' over Bucha deaths — live updates
Sunday, 3 April 2022 (17:57 IST)
The images of bodies lining the streets in a town outside of Kyiv have sparked horror in Ukraine and beyond. Meanwhile, efforts to evacuate residents from Mariupol continue to stall.
German Foreign Minister accuses Russia of 'war crimes' in Bucha
Annalena Baerbock, Germany's foreign minister, accuses Russia of "war crimes" over dead civilians bound and dead left on the streets following Russia's withdrawal from the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.
Baerbock tweeted the images are "unbearable" and said, "Putin's rampant violence is wiping out innocent families and knows no bounds."
Die Bilder aus #Butscha sind unerträglich. Putins hemmungslose Gewalt löscht unschuldige Familien aus und kennt keine Grenzen. 1/2
— Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock (@ABaerbock) April 3, 2022
She added, "Those responsible for these war crimes must be held accountable."
Germany's response would be to "tighten sanctions" and "support #Ukraine even more in their defense."
EU Council President accuses Russia of massacre in Bucha
Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, blamed Russia for "atrocities" committed in Bucha on the outskirts of Kyiv.
He tweeted saying he was "shocked by haunting images."
Shocked by haunting images of atrocities committed by Russian army in Kyiv liberated region #BuchaMassacre
EU is assisting #Ukraine & NGO’s in gathering of necessary evidence for pursuit in international courts.
Numerous civilians were found dead on the streets following the Russian army's retreat from the town. Ukrainian authorities say 280 people have also been buried in mass graves.
Nearly 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees
The UN's refugee agency said nearly 4.2 million people had fled Ukraine in just over five weeks since the war began. In just the last day, the number had incread by nearly 40,000.
Of those fleeing Ukraine, 90% are women and children as smen aged 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving because they are needed by the Ukrainian military to repel the Russian invasion.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that just over 200,00 foreign nationals living, working and studying in Ukraine also departed.
The IOM also estimates that nearly 6.5 million are internally displaced within Ukraine.
The result is a quarter of Ukraine's total population is displaced due to the conflict.
Russia will only export food to 'friendly countries'
Russian state-run RIA news agency reports Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of the country's Security Council who served a term as Russian president while Russian President Vladimir Putin was prime minister, said Russia will only export food and crops to "friendly countries."
He added that payment must be handled in rubles or their national currencies.
Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius killed in Mariupol
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense's information agency announced Sunday that Lithuanian film director Mantas Kvedaravicius, 45, died, "While trying to leave Mariupol, Russian occupiers killed Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius."
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said Sunday, "We lost a creator well known in Lithuania and in the whole world, who until the very last moment, in spite of danger, worked in Russia-occupied Ukraine."
Kvedaravicius was best known for his documentary "Mariupolis" which premiered at the 2016 Berlin's international film festival Berlinale.
Lithuania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted Kvedaravicius "told the story of a besieged city with a strong will to live," and called it a big loss for Lithuania in the world.
Shocked by the news that ???????? award-winning documentary filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravi?ius was killed in #Mariupol, where he was documenting #Russia's war atrocities. His previous film Mariupol (2016) told the story of a besieged city with a strong will to live. Big loss for ????????&the ????. pic.twitter.com/lKjUDcfZga
— Lithuania MFA | #StandWithUkraine (@LithuaniaMFA) April 3, 2022
Not enough peace talks progress for leaders' meeting: Russian negotiator
In seeming response to reports suggesting that Russia had agreed "verbally" to key Ukrainian positions at peace talks, Russia's chief negotiator has stressed that Moscow is sticking to its demands.
"The draft agreement is not ready for submission to a meeting at the top," Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said on Telegram. "I repeat again and again: Russia's position on Crimea and Donbas remains UNCHANGED."
Odesa 'attacked from the air': city council
Ukraine's strategic Black Sea port city of Odesa was hit by explosions early on Sunday, with officials saying missiles had been fired at it.
"Odesa was attacked from the air. Some missiles were shot down by air defense,'' the city council said in a brief statement on the Telegram messaging app. It said fires were reported in some areas but gave no details on what the attacks may have targeted.
However, regional administration spokesperson Sergey Bratchuk told Ukraine's public broadcaster that one of the city's "critical infrastructure facilities" was hit.
The attack on the city, where Ukraine's navy is headquartered, comes as Russian forces appear to be withdrawing from the north of the country.
Mines in Black Sea 'pose a serious risk': UK intelligence report
In an intelligence update, the British Ministry of Defence has said that "reported mines within the Black Sea pose a serious risk to maritime activity."
It said that though it was still unclear where the mines came from, "their presence is almost certainly due to Russian naval activity in the area," adding that it showed the risks posed by the Russian invasion to "neutral and civilian interests."
The update also said Russia was continuing to prevent Ukraine from receiving supplies from the sea by blockading the coast in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.
Germany faces mounting criticism over Ukraine response
Ukrainian and Polish officials sharply criticized the German government in interviews published on Sunday, accusing Berlin of being too close with Moscow.
Poland's deputy prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said that Warsaw "is not pleased with Germany's role in Europe."
"Over the years, the German government did not want to see what Russia was doing under the leadership of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and we see the result today," Kaczynski told German newspaper Die Welt.
Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, took aim at German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He accused the longtime politician of building a "web of contacts with Russia for decades."
"For Steinmeier, the relationship with Russia was and remains something fundamental — even sacred. No matter what happens, even the [Russian] invasion doesn't play a big role," Melnyk told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
He also said that the German government hasn't been open in sharing its plans about potential weapons deliveries. The ambassador said he first heard about Berlin's plan to supply up to €308 million in weapons deliveries from reading it in the news.
"The communication could be a lot better," he said.
Retreat reveals mass graves and bodies in the streets
As Ukrainian forces slowly moved to retake areas around Kyiv that were besieged and occupied by Russian troops, they uncovered shocking scenes.
In Bucha, a town just outside the capital, numerous bodies lined the streets of the town — with Ukrainian civilians and Russian soldiers among the dead.
New Srebrenica. The Ukrainian city of Bucha was in the hands of ???????? animals for several weeks. *Local civillians were being executed arbitrarily*, some with hands tied behind their backs, their bodies scattered in the streets of the city.#RussianWarCrimespic.twitter.com/outzejdidO
Journalists with the French news agency AFP counted at least 20 bodies in just one street. Reporters with the Associated Press said the bodies of at least six civilians were sprawled along a road and in a front yard.
"Those people were just walking and they shot them without any reason," a Bucha resident told AP, saying the departing Russian troops were behind the indiscriminate killings.
Bucha's Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said that at least 280 other bodies had been buried in mass graves elsewhere in the town.
The images have sparked outrage among officials in Ukraine and circulated widely on social media.
Round-up of events in Ukraine war on Saturday
Ukraine's military said it regained control of the entire Kyiv region on Saturday, with Russian troops pulling out of embattled areas around the capital.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned, however, that the retreat of Russian forces is creating a "catastrophic" situation for those stuck in the areas left behind.
Images from heavily damaged towns outside of Kyiv show land mines littering the roads and bodies dressed in civilian clothes lying in the streets.
Bucha, Kyiv region. The bodies of people with tied hands, who were shot dead by ???????? soldiers lie in the streets. These people were not in the military. They had no weapons. They posed no threat. How many more such cases are happening right now in the occupied territories? (1/2) pic.twitter.com/AJloZ81JIt
Prominent Ukrainian photojournalist Maks Levin who went missing last month was found dead in a village north of Kyiv, making him the sixth journalist so far to be killed in the war.
Ukraine, along with the United Kingdom and other allies, warned that Russia's withdrawal from Kyiv does not signal a reprieve from fighting. They cited evidence showing Moscow moving to strengthen its troops in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Baltic states sought to mount economic pressure on Russia by saying they'd stopped all imports of Russian gas on Saturday.
