KYIV, April 10 (Reuters) – A Ukrainian official says a mass grave has been discovered following the withdrawal of Russian troops from the northern part of the capital. In the east.
The bodies were found in a ditch near a petrol station, according to Taras Ditich, head of the Dmitrivka community, which includes Pusova. The death toll has not yet been confirmed, he said.
“Now we are coming back to life, but there were our ‘hotspots’ during the occupation and many civilians died,” Ditich told Ukrainian television late on Saturday.
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Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
The rising number of civilian casualties has provoked widespread international condemnation and new sanctions, especially in the town of Pucha in northwestern Kiev, where hundreds of people were killed by Russian forces until a week ago.
Russia has denied allegations of war crimes by Ukraine and the West. It refuses to target civilians, calling it a “special measure” to militarize and “reduce” its southern neighbors. Ukraine and the West have rejected this as an unfounded excuse for war.
Russia has failed to capture a major city since the February 24 invasion, but Ukraine says Russia is mobilizing its forces in the east for a major offensive and forcing people to flee.
Russia’s defense ministry says it is seeking to establish a land route from Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, and from the eastern Donbass region of pro-Moscow separatists.
The Russian armed forces expect to strengthen the number of troops with personnel who have been discharged from military service since 2012, it said in a routine intelligence update on Sunday.
Some cities in the east have been hit by heavy shelling, leaving tens of thousands of people stranded.
President Volodymyr Zhelensky called Russia’s use of force “a catastrophe that will inevitably strike everyone.”
In a speech late Saturday, he renewed his appeal to Western allies for a complete ban on Russian energy supplies and more weapons for Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Gelensky in Kiev on Saturday and pledged armored vehicles and anti-ship missile systems with additional support for World Bank loans.
Johnson said Britain would also lift sanctions on Russia and stop using Russian hydrocarbons. read more
The European Union (EU) on Friday approved new sanctions against Russia, including a ban on the import of coal, timber, chemicals and other products. Oil and gas imports from Russia remain untouched. read more
Natalia Titova, 62, responds when she is shown her home destroyed by a Russian shelling during the Russian-Ukrainian invasion of Chernihiv, Ukraine, on April 9, 2022. As Natalia and her family stayed in the basement, she said, “When our house was hit by a rocket, we ran into the street, and it was so scary.” REUTERS / Zohra Bensemra
Johnson, speaking to reporters with Zelenskiy, said the aim was to ensure that support for Ukraine would “never be bullied, never threatened again, never threatened again in the same way.”
Johnson was the latest foreign leader to visit Kiev, marking a return to normalcy in the capital after Russian forces withdrew from the region. Italy says it plans to reopen its embassy this month.
Nine trains
But in the east, a missile strike on Friday at a train station in the town of Gramadorsk in the Donetsk region gave more urgency to calls by Ukrainian authorities for civilians to flee. go out.
Ukrainian officials say more than 50 people have been killed.
Russia has denied any involvement in the attack, saying it was only used by the Ukrainian military. The United States believes that Russian forces are to blame.
The details of the attack could not be verified by Reuters.
Gramdorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honsarenko said he expects only 50,000 to 60,000 of the city’s 220,000 people to leave.
Residents of the Luhansk region will have to board nine trains on Sunday, the region’s governor Sergei Kaitoi wrote in the Telegram news service.
He later said a school and a high-rise apartment building were shelled early Sunday morning in the city of Siverodonets.
“Fortunately, no casualties were reported,” Guido wrote in a telegram.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the news.
Russia’s invasion has left a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people homeless, turned cities into ruins and killed or injured thousands.
Ukraine has banned all imports from Russia, a key trading partner before the war with annual imports worth about $ 6 billion.
“The enemy’s budget will not receive this funding, which will reduce the ability to finance the war,” Economy Minister Yulia Sveridenko wrote on Facebook.
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Report by Reuters Bureau Edited by Michael Perry and Tomasz Janowski Edited by Robert Brussel and Francis Kerry
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