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(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing to have a tough time pushing through Ukraine due to Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and backed by weapons and military equipment from the United States and many European countries, putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, have continued throughout the country, including some in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.

In recent days, Russian forces appear to be pulling away from Kyiv after Russian officials said they were reducing military action near Kyiv and in Chernihiv in northern Ukraine in an attempt to increase “mutual trust and create conditions required” for further peace talks with Ukrainian negotiators.

Russia is now being accused of committing war crimes by the United States and countries throughout Europe after graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, some with their hands bound and shot at close range.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Apr 05, 12:38 pm
Satellite images of bodies in Bucha contradict Russia’s claims

An ABC News analysis of videos and satellite imagery confirms that some of the bodies seen lying in the streets of Bucha were there as early as March 19, when the Ukrainian city was still occupied by Russian forces, contradicting Russia’s claims that the scene was “staged” after its troops left.

As Ukrainian authorities regained control over Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, gruesome images emerged earlier this week showing numerous bodies of dead civilians — some shot at close range and with their hands bound — strewn across streets and in mass graves. Russia has denied responsibility, calling the footage “fake” and saying that all of its units withdrew completely from Bucha around March 30.

However, satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies show that at least five of those bodies had been on the street in Bucha since March 19, when Russia said it still occupied the town. ABC News’ Visual Verification team compared the satellite imagery to videos of the same scene posted on Twitter by Ukrainian authorities on April 2, as well as footage taken by ABC News journalists in Bucha on April 4.

The satellite imagery of Bucha in March was first reported by The New York Times.

-ABC News’ Alice Chambers

Apr 05, 11:59 am
Zelenskyy details atrocities to UN Security Council

In an address to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy laid out the atrocities he said were committed by Russian forces in Bucha, Ukraine, including women shot in front of their homes and raped in front of their children.

“There is not a single crime they would not commit,” Zelenskyy said via a live video feed.

Zelenskyy proposed a summit to reform the world’s global security apparatus, listing a number of major conflicts since World War II he said the U.N. Security Council had failed to prevent.

He said Russia’s actions in Bucha are no different from other acts of terrorism.

“Here it is done by a member of the United Nations Security Council destroying internal unity borders, countries,” Zelenskyy said.

He accused Russia of “pursuing a policy to kill ethnic and linguistic diversity.”

Zelenskyy went on to criticize the council for failing to provide security to Ukraine, saying, the U.N. “simply cannot work effectively.”

“If this continues, countries will have to rely on their selves, not (the) international community,” Zelenskyy said. “The U.N. will be ready to close. Do they think the time of the U.N. is gone? If no, then the U.N. must act immediately.”

Zelenskyy added, “accountability must be inevitable.”

Telling the council he was speaking on behalf of the deceased, Zelenskyy detailed in graphic detail the horrors found in Bucha, describing them as “the most terrible crimes we have seen since the end of World War II.“

“The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our country. They killed — shot and killed women outside their houses when they just tried to call someone who is alive. They killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies,” Zelenskyy said. “I am addressing you on behalf of the people who honor the memory of the deceased, every single day in the memory of the civilians who died, who were shot and killed in the back of their head after being tortured, some of them were shot on the streets. Others were thrown into the wells, so they died. They are in suffering.”

Noting Russia’s veto power on the council, Zelensky proposed the council remove Russia’s power so it “cannot block decisions against its own aggression” or else “dissolve yourselves altogether.”

Zelenskyy’s address was met with applause by the members of the council.

Apr 05, 11:43 am
Video shows Russian shell hitting ambulance outside children’s hospital

Video has emerged purportedly showing a Russian shell striking an ambulance parked outside a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.

Security camera footage released by Mykolaiv Gov. Vitaly Kim shows the moment the empty ambulance is hit and explodes next to the hospital on Monday.

As of March 30, there had been 82 attacks on health care in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded, resulting in at least 72 deaths and 43 injuries, including patients and health workers, according to the World Health Organization.

-ABC News’ Fergal Gallagher

Apr 05, 11:02 am
European Commission proposes new sanctions on Russia

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a proposal Tuesday for new sanctions targeting Russia’s economy.

The proposal will require the approval of the European Union’s member states.

In a statement, von der Leyen accused Moscow of “waging a cruel and ruthless war in Ukraine and said its alleged atrocities “cannot and will not be left unanswered.”

Among the new sanctions being proposed are banning imports of coal from Russia, banning Russian ships and Russian-operated ships from accessing European Union ports and banning imports of other Russian products including seafood, liquor, and wood. The proposal also calls for a full transaction ban on four key Russian banks – among them the country’s second-largest, VTB.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the death and destruction in Bucha, Ukraine, reportedly at the hands of Russian forces shows a “deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities.”

Blinken spoke to reporters at Joint Base Andrews before boarding a plane to Brussels for the Western military alliance’s annual spring meeting of foreign ministers.

He said the reports of atrocities emerging in Bucha, a suburb of the capital of Kyiv were “more than credible” and added it “reinforces our determination and the determination of countries around the world to make sure that one way or another, one day or another, there is accountability for those who committed these acts, for those who ordered them.”

Ukrainian forces in recent days retook Bucha from the Russians and found the bodies of more than 400 civilians lying dead in the streets or in mass graves, some with their hands bound and shot at close range.

Blinken didn’t directly address a question of whether the United States has evidence linking the atrocities on the ground in Busha to Russian officials back in Moscow. Instead, he said the United States is working to support efforts to document evidence by Ukraine’s prosecutor-general, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s commission of inquiry, and others.

Blinken noted that before the war began, U.S. officials warned that atrocities “would be part of the Russian campaign.”

“Horrifically, tragically, what we’re seeing in Bucha and in other places supports that,” Blinken said.

He said the United States will work with its NATO and G-7 allies to support Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia, especially with meetings among both groups later this week in Brussels.

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

Apr 05, 9:04 am
Video shows Russian tank firing on cyclist in Bucha

Video has emerged purportedly showing a Russian tank firing on a cyclist in the besieged Ukrainian city of Bucha.

The footage, provided to Ukrainian public broadcasting company Suspilne Media by the Ukrainian military, was reportedly taken on March 3. The video captures the moment a tank fires at a person riding a bike in the streets of Bucha when the town, northwest of Kyiv, was occupied by Russian forces.

Apr 05, 7:54 am
ICRC team released after being detained near Mariupol

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday its team has been released from detention after failing to reach the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

An ICRC team tasked with escorting evacuation buses to and from Mariupol “was stopped” and “held by police” on Monday in the town of Manhush, about 12 miles west of Mariupol. The team was released Monday night, according to an ICRC spokesperson.

“This is of great relief to us and to their families,” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement Tuesday. “The team is focused now on continuing the humanitarian evacuation operation. This incident yesterday shows how volatile and complex the operation to facilitate safe passage around Mariupol has been for our team, who have been trying to reach the city since Friday.”

The ICRC didn’t specify which police force had detained its team. However, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement via Telegram on Tuesday that the ICRC team was being held by “the occupation authorities” in Manhush.

Apr 05, 7:20 am
Ukraine says seven humanitarian corridors have opened to evacuate Mariupol residents

Seven humanitarian corridors from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol were opened Tuesday to evacuate some of the 130,000 remaining residents, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Vereshchuk said in a statement via Telegram that the seven evacuation routes will allow Mariupol residents — many of whom have been living without electricity, food, water or shelter — to be transported to the city of Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko confirmed on Monday that a convoy of seven buses escorted by the International Committee of the Red Cross could not make it into his southeastern port city to evacuate trapped residents. However, more than 1,500 residents were still able to flee Mariupol using a single humanitarian corridor meant for private cars, according to the mayor.

Apr 05, 6:40 am
Russian brigade accused of Bucha atrocities will be sent back to war, Ukrainian intelligence says

A brigade of the Russian Ground Forces accused of committing war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha will be sent back to war, according to the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

“The Russian command will not rotate the personnel in this unit and will throw it back to the front,” the directorate said in a statement Tuesday.

As of Monday, Russia’s 64th Motor Rifle Brigade was withdrawn from Ukraine to Belarus, according to Ukrainian intelligence. By Wednesday, the personnel will be transported to the western Russian city of Belgorod, just north of the border with Ukraine, with plans to return to the front line in the direction of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian intelligence.

“Usually, Russian units leaving the combat zone receive much more time for recovery and rest,” the directorate said. “This indicates that ‘special tasks’ are expected for the 64th Brigade. The first of them: intimidation of inhabitants of settlements of Ukraine. Those who committed the crimes of genocide in Bucha may repeat this again in other cities.”

“Another goal of the rapid return of the 64th Brigade to the territory of Ukraine is the rapid ‘disposal’ of unnecessary witnesses. That is, relocation to a part of the front where they will not have a chance to stay alive to make it impossible to testify in future courts,” the directorate added. “The personnel of the unit, aware of the resonance of the events in Bucha and the responsibility for the crimes committed, massively opposes the return to Ukraine. However, the Russian command ignores these sentiments and threatens the tribunal if they refuse to continue fighting. The militaries do not accept reports of dismissal from Russian soldiers.”

On Monday, the directorate published online what it said was a list with the names of hundreds of personnel of Russia’s 64th Motor Rifle Brigade whom they believe were directly responsible for the atrocities in Bucha. Ukrainian officials have said there is evidence of other Russian units being involved. Russia has denied the claims.

Apr 05, 6:06 am
Ukraine has retaken ‘key terrain’ from Russia, UK says

Ukrainian troops have retaken “key terrain” in the north of the country, “after denying Russia the ability to secure its objectives and forcing Russian forces to retreat” from areas around Chernihiv and north of Kyiv, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Tuesday.

“Low-level fighting is likely to continue in some parts of the newly recaptured regions, but diminish significantly over this week as the remainder of Russian forces withdraw,” the ministry added. “Many Russian units withdrawing from northern Ukraine are likely to require significant re-equipping and refurbishment before being available to redeploy for operations in eastern Ukraine.”

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 5 April 2022

Find out more about the UK government’s response: https://t.co/C605aP9hlX

#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/t8wlPfCrqd

— Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) April 5, 2022

Apr 05, 5:24 am
Peace talks may now be off the table, Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated Tuesday that peace talks with Russia may now be off the table, following the gruesome discovery of scores of dead civilians in Bucha and other towns outside Ukraine’s capital that were recently recaptured from Russian forces.

“The most difficult thing is to talk about what they did,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv. “We believe that this is genocide. We believe that they should be punished for it.”

“I believe that we need to set such a bar for these negotiations,” he added. “It may happen that there will be no meeting.”

Zelenskyy’s comments came a day after he traveled to Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, where bodies in civilian clothes were found strewn in the streets and in mass graves. Many of the victims appeared to have been shot at close range and some even showed signs of torture. ABC News journalists on the ground saw some of the dead, including a family that locals said were executed with their hands bound.

Apr 05, 5:07 am
Russia threatens to fine Wikipedia if it doesn’t remove info about Ukraine war

Russia’s communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, is demanding that Wikipedia remove content that contradicts the Kremlin’s narrative about the war in Ukraine.

“Based on a motion from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, Roskomnadzor demanded on April 4 that the Wikipedia management put an end to the dissemination of false socially significant information,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “Materials containing false information about the special military operation in Ukraine and operations of the Russian Armed Forces have been massively published on Wikipedia in the recent period. Wikipedia has become a new line for continuous information attacks on Russians.”

Roskomnadzor accused the free online encyclopedia of “deliberately” misinforming Russian users. The agency noted that it has previously asked Wikipedia “to remove false information about events in Ukraine” and threatened to fine the San Francisco-based company up to 4 million rubles (about $47,000) for failing to delete such content, which is illegal under Russian law.

Apr 04, 10:54 pm
US cuts Russia off from dollars it holds at American financial institutions

The U.S. Treasury said Monday night that it would no longer allow the Russian government to make payments on debt using dollars it holds at U.S. financial institutions, another step that puts pressure on the Russian government’s funds.

This step “was in the works before the weekend and isn’t a response” to the atrocities in Bucha, according to a Treasury spokesperson.

“One of the most potent actions of the 700-plus sanctions we’ve imposed have been our sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank, which were levied with unprecedented multilateral coordination, speed, and impact,” the spokesperson said. “Today is the deadline for Russia to make another debt payment. Beginning today, the U.S. Treasury will not permit any dollar debt payments to be made from Russian government accounts at U.S. financial institutions.”

“Russia must choose between draining remaining valuable dollar reserves or new revenue coming in, or default,” the spokesperson continued. “This will further deplete the resources Putin is using to continue his war against Ukraine and will cause more uncertainty and challenges for their financial system.”

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(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Apr 04, 7:28 pm
‘Today has been a really difficult day, emotional,’ Zelenskyy says of visit to Bucha

More than 300 people have been killed and tortured in Bucha, with the death toll expected to be much higher once the entire city has been checked, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address Monday following his visit to the ravaged city.

Even more are feared dead in Borodyanka and other liberated cities, Zelenskyy said, vowing to punish those responsible.

“We are already doing everything possible to identify all the Russian military involved in these crimes as soon as possible. Everything to punish them,” Zelenskyy said. “This will be a joint work of our state with the European Union and international institutions, in particular with the International Criminal Court.”

Zelenskyy also said that Russia is using old tactics to distort the truth about what happened in Bucha.

“They will not succeed,” Zelensky said. “They will not be able to deceive the whole world.”

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Apr 04, 5:34 pm
Russian ambassador to the UN claims Ukraine ‘staged’ Bucha atrocities

Russia is not responsible for the atrocities that Ukraine claims occurred in Bucha, the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations claimed in a press conference on Monday.

Ambassador Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya claimed that experts who analyzed the video showing dead bodies on the street in Bucha and concluded the scene was staged, alleging that the people lying on the street showed signs of life and that it was clear the first stages of decomposition, which would have occurred in the days after Russian military forces had withdrawn, have not taken place.

To back his claims, Nebenzya played a video, purportedly filmed on Saturday after Russian forces left Bucha, and pointed out that there were no dead bodies on the streets.

Nebenzya also alleged that the Ukrainian military interviewed people in different locations throughout Bucha and there was no mention of a civilian massacre.

“Now the nationalists have a pretext to commit a real massacre” Nebenzya said, claiming Ukraine would use Bucha as a false flag operation. “We want the world to stay alert.”

Nebenzya added that the “truth of what happened in Bucha will reveal itself” and that he will present “even more” evidence to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Apr 04, 5:22 pm
US pushes to expel Russian diplomats from UN Human Rights Council

The U.S., in coordination with Ukraine and European allies, is pushing to expel Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced Monday.

The U.N. Human Rights Council is a body within the U.N. system where countries are elected for three-year terms. To suspend one of the body’s 47 elected members requires a two-thirds majority in the U.N.’s main body — the U.N. General Assembly.

During a press conference in Romania, Thomas-Greenfield told reporters the U.S. wants to have a vote this week.

“We cannot let a member state that is subverting every principle we hold dear to continue to sit on the U.N. Human Rights Council,” she said. “Russia should not have a position of authority in that body, nor should we allow Russia to use their role on the Council as a tool of propaganda to suggest they have a legitimate concern about human rights.”

Thomas-Greenfield called Moscow’s participation a “farce” and added it “hurts the credibility of the Council and the U.N. writ large — and it is simply wrong.”

It is unclear whether the U.S. and its allies and partners have the votes to take this rare step, but two previous U.N. General Assembly votes condemning Russia’s invasion have yielded 141 and 140 votes — crossing the two-thirds threshold of the U.N.’s 193 member states.

Whether they can secure that same level of support for an expulsion, which some countries may see as an escalation, is an open question.

This would not be the first time the U.N. has suspended a country. In March 2011, it to suspend Libya from the Council because of Muammar Gaddafi’s violence against protesters.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price indicated they believe they have the votes, saying the U.S. believes the General Assembly will “stand up in clear contravention of what Russia is doing.”

“It’s something that we’ll continue to discuss,” Price said. “But, as we’ve heard, there’s been widespread, strong condemnation of this conduct and this would be the next natural step.”

The U.N. Security Council will meet Tuesday to discuss Ukraine, with the atrocities reported out of Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs on the agenda.

“We will be prepared to confront them with the actual truth,” Thomas-Greenfield said Monday when asked about that meeting. “They of course will, as they always do, try to distract us with their lies, and we’re prepared for that.”

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

Apr 04, 4:52 pm
US supports team of independent war crimes investigators

The United States is supporting a multinational team of independent war crimes investigators, including American experts, that are working with Ukraine’s prosecutor-general on a probe of alleged Russian war crimes, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday.

The team is working in Eastern Europe, but not in Ukraine itself, Price said. He said the team is collecting, preserving and analyzing evidence with a view toward prosecutions and other forms of holding Russia accountable, Price said.

The United States is also supporting the effort through funding for non-government organizations that are part of the effort, Price said. He said he could not provide further details, including how many Americans are involved or how much funding is being allocated.

At the start of his briefing on Monday, Price noted the horrific reports from Bucha, Ukraine, and other towns outside of the capital of Kyiv, describing reports of “civilians, many with their hands tied, apparently executed in the streets, others in mass graves.”

“We are seeing credible reports of torture, rape and civilians executed alongside their families,” Price said. “There are reports and images of a nightmare litany of atrocities, including reports of land mines and booby traps left behind by Putin’s forces to injure even more civilians and slow the stabilization and recovery of devastated communities after they failed in their objective and withdrew.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss the reported atrocities with his NATO foreign minister counterparts during the Western military alliance’s spring meeting this week, Price said.

President Joe Biden said earlier Monday that he is calling for more sanctions to be imposed on Russia in light of the reports from Bucha.

“We’re continuously tightening sanctions and preparing for additional sanctions, jointly with our allies and partners,” Price said.

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

Apr 04, 4:42 pm
More than 1,500 residents evacuated from Mariupol

More than 1,500 residents fled Mariupol in private vehicles on, according to Ukrainian officials.

The mayor of Mariupol confirmed on Monday that a convoy of seven buses escorted by the International Committee of the Red Cross was could not make it into his besieged city to evacuate residents. The mayor said residents were still able to flee the city using a single humanitarian corridor meant for private cars.

The mayor also said humanitarian cargo also failed to make it to Mariupol.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said a total of 3,376 civilians evacuated the country on Monday, including 2,405 citizens of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine who made it out via private transport.

Apr 04, 3:12 pm
France to expel Russian diplomats, cites security risk

France’s foreign ministry announced that it decided Monday evening to expel “many” Russian diplomats.

France’s decision came hours after the German foreign minister said her country is moving to expel a “significant” number of Russian diplomats following reports that Russian troops killed more than 400 civilians in the Ukraine city of Bucha.

A spokesperson for the French foreign ministry said the action by France is “part of a European approach” and expects other European Union nations to make similar announcements. The spokesperson did not disclose how many Russian diplomats will be expelled.

“France decided this evening to expel many Russian personnel with diplomatic status assigned to France whose activities are contrary to our security interests,” the spokesperson said. “Our first responsibility is always to ensure the safety of French people and Europeans.”

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Apr 04, 2:23 pm
Nearly 70% of Russian troops near Kyiv have withdrawn: US official

About two-thirds of the Russian forces that were arrayed against the capital of Ukraine have withdrawn toward Belarus, according to a senior U.S. defense official.

The number of Russian forces being pulled back from Kyiv is up from an estimated 20% late last week, the official said.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen. Alexander Fomin told reporters last week that Russia’s military activity was being dramatically curtailed near Kyiv and in Chernihiv in northern Ukraine in an attempt to increase “mutual trust and create conditions required” for further peace talks with Ukrainian negotiators.

The United States has been skeptical of Russia’s promise to scale back its military activity near Kyiv.

Before repositioning its forces, Russia had close to 20 battalion tactical groups (BTGs) bearing down on Kyiv from the north and northwest, with each group comprised of 700 to 900 troops. Roughly 13 of those BTGs are now either in Belarus or on their way there.

The Pentagon believes the withdrawing forces will be resupplied and possibly reinforced in the north before heading back into Ukraine to fight elsewhere, the official said.

“Our best assessment –- and it is only an assessment -– is that they will be applied in the eastern part of the country in the Donbas region,” the official said of the two separatist areas, Donetsk and Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized as independent self-proclaimed people’s republics prior to the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

The United States has also seen some Russian troops leave the city of Sumy in northeast Ukraine and head north to the Russian border, according to the official.

Despite these movements, the official said the “vast majority” of the more than 125 BTGs that Russia committed to the invasion remain inside Ukraine.

-ABC News’ Matt Seyler

Apr 04, 1:07 pm
Germany to expel a ‘significant’ number of Russian diplomats

Germany’s foreign minister said Monday that her country is moving to expel a “significant” number of Russian diplomats following reports that Russian troops killed more than 400 civilians in the Ukraine city of Bucha.

“The pictures from Bucha bear witness to the unbelievable brutality of the Russian leadership and of those who follow its propaganda, to a will to annihilate that transcends all borders. We have to fear similar pictures from many other places that Russian troops have occupied in Ukraine,” Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a statement.

Baerbock added that Germany is opposed to the inhumanity alleged in Bucha and must stand for freedom and be prepared to defend it. Baerbock said Germany, therefore, has decided to declare a significant number of the Russian diplomats persona non grata.

She said the Russian ambassador to Germany was informed of the decision on Monday afternoon.

Germany will also take further action against Russia together with allies, tightening existing sanctions, increasing support for Ukraine’s armed forces and strengthening the NATO eastern flank.

The statement and corresponding tweet from Baerbock does not say how many diplomats will be expelled.

Apr 04, 11:56 am
ICRC team blocked from entering Mariupol again, ‘being held’ in nearby town

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday that its staff has been blocked again from entering Mariupol after failing to reach the besieged Ukrainian port city for several days.

An ICRC team tasked with escorting evacuation buses to and from Mariupol was stopped on Monday while carrying out humanitarian efforts to help lead a safe passage corridor for civilians and is now “being held in the town of Manhush,” about 12 miles west of Mariupol, according to an ICRC spokesperson.

“The ICRC has been in direct contact with our colleagues and is speaking with the parties on all sides to bring clarity to the situation and allow them to resume their humanitarian work,” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.

Apr 04, 11:37 am
Biden to call for more sanctions against Russia over Bucha ‘war crimes’

President Joe Biden said on Monday that he is seeking more sanctions against Russia after horrific images surfaced of dead civilians lying in the bombed-out streets of Bucha, Ukraine.

Upon his return to Washington from Ft. McNair, Biden said he will call for more sanctions but stopped short of accusing Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine.

“I’m seeking more sanctions, yes,” Biden said, declining to offer specifics when pressed.

Biden described the situation in Bucha as “outrageous” and called Russian President Vladimir Putin “brutal.”

“You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter — you saw what happened in Bucha,” Biden said. “This warrants he is a war criminal. But we have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with weapons they need to continue the fight. And we have to gather all the details. So this could be an actual — have a war-crime trial. This guy is brutal. And what’s happening with Bucha is outrageous. And everyone sees it.”

Ukrainian officials accused Russian troops of committing genocide in Bucha, which was retaken by Ukrainian forces in recent days. Ukrainian leaders said 410 civilians were killed in the fighting in Bucha and that many were found with their hands bound and shot at close range.

Asked if he thought Russia was committing genocide, Biden replied, “No, I think it is a war crime.”

Apr 04, 10:22 am
Russia may launch major offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Monday it is monitoring large movements of Russian troops and reinforcements in eastern Ukraine.

The General Staff said it expects Russian forces to launch a possibly major offensive in the Donbas region within the next 24 hours, particularly against the city of Severodonetsk, which is the administrative center of the government-controlled areas of the Luhansk Oblast.

Meanwhile, Donetsk Oblast Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko has urged civilians to evacuate now, even from areas not close to the front lines.

Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his recognition of two breakaway areas of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region that share a border with Russia — the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. Russia-backed separatist forces have controlled these parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhanks oblasts since 2014.

Apr 04, 10:04 am
Zelenskyy visits bombed city of Bucha

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited on Monday the decimated city of Bucha, where Ukrainian officials have accused Russian troops of committing war crimes against civilians.

Zelenskyy toured the Kyiv suburb that was retaken by Ukrainian forces in recent days. Zelenskyy went to a road in the city littered with destroyed Russian equipment and he spoke to local residents.

Zelenskyy repeated accusations that Russia committed war crimes and genocide after Ukrainian officials said 410 people believed to have been civilians were found dead, many with their hands bound behind their backs and shot at close range.

Russian officials have denied the accusation and have requested the U.N. Security Council investigate.

Apr 04, 9:34 am
Ukraine accuses Russian brigade of war crimes, releases names of troops

Ukraine has accused a brigade of the Russian Ground Forces of committing war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense published online Monday what it said was a list with the names of hundreds of personnel of Russia’s 64th Motor Rifle Brigade whom they believe were directly responsible for atrocities in Bucha. Ukrainian officials have said there is evidence of other Russian units being involved.

Ukrainian authorities announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Images emerged showing bodies, some of which showed signs of torture, in civilian clothes strewn in streets and in mass graves across Bucha, northwest of Kyiv. ABC News journalists on the ground saw some of the dead, including a family that locals said were executed with their hands bound.

Russia has denied the claims.

-ABC News’ Natalia Kushnir and Fidel Pavlenko

Apr 04, 9:23 am
Russian oligarch’s yacht seized in Spain

A yacht that belongs to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg was seized Monday in Marina Real in the Spanish port of Palma de Mallorca, two U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The yacht was seized by Spanish authorities and KleptoCapture, the U.S. Department of Justice task force charged with finding assets of oligarchs trying to evade sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Vekselberg was among the oligarchs sanctioned previously by the United States in 2018 after Russia invaded Crimea.

The task force is trying to find yachts, airplanes and other moveable properties before the oligarchs can move them to jurisdictions where it might be more difficult for U.S. authorities to investigate.

-ABC News’ Luke Barr and Aaron Katersky

Apr 04, 8:20 am
Russia accuses Ukraine of ‘fake attack’ in Bucha

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused Ukrainian forces of staging an attack in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, where images have emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes lying in the streets and in mass graves.

“The other day, another fake attack was launched in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, after Russian military personnel left from there in accordance with the plans and agreements reached,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow on Monday. “A few days later, a staging was arranged there, which was dispersed through all channels and social networks by Ukrainian representatives and their Western patrons.”

According to Lavrov, Russian forces vacated the area on March 30.

“On March 31, the mayor [of Bucha] solemnly said that everything was fine there,” he added. “And two days later, we saw how the same production was organized on the streets, which they are now trying to use for anti-Russian purposes.”

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Some photos taken Sunday in Bucha show unarmed individuals who appear to have been executed with their hands or legs bound. A number of world leaders have accused Russia of committing the atrocities.

Apr 04, 7:41 am
Kremlin reacts to images of dead bodies in Bucha

Russia responded on Monday to accusations that its troops have deliberately killed civilians in Ukraine, after images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes scattered in areas on the outskirts of the capital that were recently recaptured from Russian forces.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova said Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in towns near Kyiv.

During a daily press briefing on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia “categorically dismiss[es] any accusations” of its role in civilian killings and that Moscow does not trust the evidence in Bucha.

“This information should be seriously doubted,” Peskov told reporters. “From what we have seen, the video materials cannot be trusted to a large extent, as our specialists from the Defense Ministry have detected signs of video forgery and other kinds of fakes.”

The Kremlin demands that “international leaders do not jump to conclusions, do not make hasty unsupported accusations but at least seek information from various sources and at least listen to our arguments,” Peskov said.

“The facts, the chronology of events also do not speak in favor of the credibility of these claims,” he added.

Russia will reiterate its calls to discuss the matter at the United Nations Security Council on Monday, according to Peskov.

“We believe that the issue should be discussed at the highest level, so we have proposed that it be discussed at the Security Council. We are aware that the initiative has been blocked,” he said. “Our diplomats will continue active efforts towards putting this item on the Security Council’s agenda. This issue is too serious.”

“The initiative aimed to put the item on the Security Council agenda demonstrates that Russia wants and actually demands its discussion at the international level,” he added.

Apr 04, 7:11 am
Russia seeks UN Security Council meeting on Bucha for Monday

Russia said it will repeat its request for the United Nations Security Council to meet on Monday over what Moscow described as “criminal provocations by Ukrainian soldiers and radicals” in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.

The United Kingdom’s mission to the U.N., which assumed the presidency of the 15-member Security Council for April, has said the group will hold a scheduled discussion on Ukraine on Tuesday, rather than meet on Monday as requested by Russia.

“Yesterday, in the worst English tradition, the British presidency of the U.N. Security Council did not give consent to holding a meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Bucha,” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement via Telegram on Monday. “Russia today will again demand the convening of the U.N. Security Council in connection with the criminal provocations of the Ukrainian military and radicals in this city.”

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes strewn in the streets of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

Russia’s deputy representative to the U.N. Security Council, Dmitry Polyansky, said via Twitter on Sunday that Moscow had requested a meeting to be held on Monday “in connection with the monstrous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in Bucha.”

Apr 04, 6:01 am
Russian troops, Wagner mercenaries move into Ukraine’s Donbas region

Russian forces are continuing to consolidate and reorganize as they refocus their offensive into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Monday.

“Russian troops, including mercenaries from the Russian state-linked Wagner private military company, are being moved into the area,” the ministry added.

Wagner is the best-known of an array of Russian mercenary groups and has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian company has deployed fighters to countries in the Middle East and Africa. U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson John Kirby told reporters last month that Wagner “has an interest in increasing their footprint in Ukraine.”

Apr 03, 10:37 pm
Zelenskyy speaks at Grammys: ‘Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a brief speech at the on Sunday night.

Zelenskyy, in a video message, said war is the opposite of music, but hopes soon the silence of death will be filled with the sound of music.

“The war doesn’t let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence. Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos,” Zelenskyy told the audience. “They sing to the wounded. In hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway.”

Apr 03, 8:14 pm
7 dead, 34 wounded in Kharkiv shelling, 70% of Chernihiv destroyed

At least seven civilians are dead and 34 are wounded following shelling in Kharkiv, the region’s prosecutor’s office announced Sunday.

The shelling occurred Sunday evening in the city’s Slobidskyi district, according to the Kharkiv regional military administration Oleg Sinehubov, who added that children are among the victims.

Meanwhile, in Chernihiv, around 70% of the city has been destroyed, according to Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko, who was speaking on Ukrainian TV.

He added that businesses are not operating. Ukrainian soldiers have been able to liberate several villages in the Chernihiv region in the past couple of days.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Apr 03, 4:20 pm
‘Concentrated evil has come,’ Zelenskyy addresses civilian deaths in Bucha

Following graphic images of casualties coming out of Bucha, Ukraine, after Russian military withdrawal, Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strong words about he called, “concentrated evil, in his daily address Sunday. Here are excerpts from that address:

“Hundreds of people were killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Corpses on the streets. Mined area. Even the bodies of the dead were mined!”

“Concentrated evil has come to our land. Murderers. Torturers. Rapists. Looters. Who call themselves the army. And who deserve only death after what they did.”

“I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the killed people in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel. What did they do? Why were they killed? What did the man who was riding his bicycle down the street do? Why were ordinary civilians in an ordinary peaceful city tortured to death? Why were women strangled after their earrings were ripped out of their ears? How could women be raped and killed in front of children? How could their corpses be desecrated even after death? Why did they crush the bodies of people with tanks? What did the Ukrainian city of Bucha do to your Russia? How did all this become possible?”

“All partners of Ukraine will be informed in detail about what happened in the temporarily occupied territory of our state. War crimes in Bucha and other cities during the Russian occupation will also be considered by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.”

Zelenslyy also invited former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Ukraine to witness the carnage.

“We do not blame the West. We do not blame anyone but the specific Russian military who did this against our people,” Zelenskyy, who has pleaded with the U.S. and NATO allies to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a measure so far, that President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have refused to do, said.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing to have a tough time pushing through Ukraine due to Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and backed by weapons and military equipment from the United States and many European countries, putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, have continued throughout the country, including some in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.

In recent days, Russian forces appear to be pulling away from Kyiv after Russian officials said they were reducing military action near Kyiv and in Chernihiv in northern Ukraine in an attempt to increase “mutual trust and create conditions required” for further peace talks with Ukrainian negotiators.

Russia is now being accused of committing war crimes by the United States and countries throughout Europe after graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, some with their hands bound and shot at close range.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Apr 05, 6:06 am
Ukraine has retaken ‘key terrain’ from Russia, UK says

Ukrainian troops have retaken “key terrain” in the north of the country, “after denying Russia the ability to secure its objectives and forcing Russian forces to retreat” from areas around Chernihiv and north of Kyiv, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Tuesday.

“Low-level fighting is likely to continue in some parts of the newly recaptured regions, but diminish significantly over this week as the remainder of Russian forces withdraw,” the ministry added. “Many Russian units withdrawing from northern Ukraine are likely to require significant re-equipping and refurbishment before being available to redeploy for operations in eastern Ukraine.”

Apr 05, 5:24 am
Peace talks may now be off the table, Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated Tuesday that peace talks with Russia may now be off the table, following the gruesome discovery of scores of dead civilians in Bucha and other towns outside Ukraine’s capital that were recently recaptured from Russian forces.

“The most difficult thing is to talk about what they did,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv. “We believe that this is genocide. We believe that they should be punished for it.”

“I believe that we need to set such a bar for these negotiations,” he added. “It may happen that there will be no meeting.”

Zelenskyy’s comments came a day after he traveled to Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, where bodies in civilian clothes were found strewn in the streets and in mass graves. Many of the victims appeared to have been shot at close range and some even showed signs of torture. ABC News journalists on the ground saw some of the dead, including a family that locals said were executed with their hands bound.

Apr 05, 5:07 am
Russia threatens to fine Wikipedia if it doesn’t remove info about Ukraine war

Russia’s communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, is demanding that Wikipedia remove content that contradicts the Kremlin’s narrative about the war in Ukraine.

“Based on a motion from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, Roskomnadzor demanded on April 4 that the Wikipedia management put an end to the dissemination of false socially significant information,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “Materials containing false information about the special military operation in Ukraine and operations of the Russian Armed Forces have been massively published on Wikipedia in the recent period. Wikipedia has become a new line for continuous information attacks on Russians.”

Roskomnadzor accused the free online encyclopedia of “deliberately” misinforming Russian users. The agency noted that it has previously asked Wikipedia “to remove false information about events in Ukraine” and threatened to fine the San Francisco-based company up to 4 million rubles (about $47,000) for failing to delete such content, which is illegal under Russian law.

Apr 04, 10:54 pm
US cuts Russia off from dollars it holds at American financial institutions

The U.S. Treasury said Monday night that it would no longer allow the Russian government to make payments on debt using dollars it holds at U.S. financial institutions, another step that puts pressure on the Russian government’s funds.

This step “was in the works before the weekend and isn’t a response” to the atrocities in Bucha, according to a Treasury spokesperson.

“One of the most potent actions of the 700-plus sanctions we’ve imposed have been our sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank, which were levied with unprecedented multilateral coordination, speed, and impact,” the spokesperson said. “Today is the deadline for Russia to make another debt payment. Beginning today, the U.S. Treasury will not permit any dollar debt payments to be made from Russian government accounts at U.S. financial institutions.”

“Russia must choose between draining remaining valuable dollar reserves or new revenue coming in, or default,” the spokesperson continued. “This will further deplete the resources Putin is using to continue his war against Ukraine and will cause more uncertainty and challenges for their financial system.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — A yacht that belongs to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg has been seized in Marina Real in the Spanish port of Palma de Mallorca, according to court documents unsealed Monday.

The yacht was seized on Monday by Spanish authorities and KleptoCapture, the Justice Department task force charged with finding the assets of oligarchs trying to evade sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We will now seek to have the vessel forfeited as the proceeds of a crime,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a video message released Monday by the Justice Department.

A spokesperson for Vekselberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

Vekselberg was designated an oligarch by U.S. authorities in 2018, when he was sanctioned by the United Sates following Russia’s invasion of Crimea.

Court documents say Vekselberg was subject to more sanctions once Russia invaded Ukraine.

In addition to the seizure of Vekselberg’s yacht, U.S. authorities also obtained seizure warrants unsealed in Washington, D.C., Monday that target roughly $625,000 associated with sanctioned parties that’s being held at nine U.S. financial institutions, the Justice Department said.

The KleptoCapture task force is trying to find yachts, airplanes and other moveable property before it can be moved into jurisdictions where it might be more difficult for U.S. authorities to investigate.

“The point of going after Putin’s cronies and Russian oligarchs who seek to violate our laws and shield their assets is to say that nobody is beyond the reach of our system of justice, beyond the reach of our work and cooperation with our allies,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told ABC News’ Byron Pitts last month. “And that these cronies and oligarchs who seek to support and bolster the Russian regime shouldn’t be able to get away with that while people are dying,”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon has been providing daily updates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s efforts to resist.

Here are highlights of what a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Monday on Day 40:

Nearly 70% of Russian troops near Kyiv have withdrawn

About two-thirds of the Russian forces that were arrayed against Kyiv have withdrawn toward Belarus, according to the official. This up from an estimated 20% late last week.

Before repositioning, there were close to 20 Russian battalion tactical groups (BTGs) bearing down on Kyiv from the north and northwest, with each group comprised of 700-900 troops. Roughly 13 of those BTGs are now either in Belarus or on their way there, the official said.

The Pentagon believes these forces will be resupplied and possibly reenforced in the north before heading back into Ukraine to fight elsewhere.

“Our best assessment — and it is only an assessment — is that they will be applied in the eastern part of the country in the Donbas region,” the official said.

The U.S. has also seen some Russian troops leave the Ukrainian city of Sumy to head north to the Russian border, according to the official.

Despite these movements, the official said the “vast majority” of the more than 125 BTGs that Russia committed to the invasion are still inside Ukraine.

‘Sickening’ Russian atrocities in Bucha

The official said that while the U.S. cannot independently verify Ukrainian claims of Russian atrocities committed against civilians in Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv recently retaken by Ukrainian troops, there is no reason to doubt them.

“It’s sickening, it’s disgusting,” the official said, adding that the claims should be included in the growing list of alleged Russian war crimes to be investigated.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the town, where he accused Russia of genocide. Ukrainian officials have said more than 400 civilians were found dead there, many with hands tied behind their backs, shot at close range.

“We have long said that the Russians would be brutal in their execution of this war. They have been,” the senior U.S. defense official said. “We said more than a week ago that we clearly believe the evidence pointed to war crimes by Russian forces. And what we’re seeing out of Bucha certainly reinforces those concerns.”

President Joe Biden put blame on Russian president Vladimir Putin while speaking to reporters Monday.

“You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal,” Biden said. “Well, the truth of the matter, you saw what happened in Bucha … he is a war criminal.”

Russia shifting airstrikes

In addition to moving some of its troops away from the capital, Russia has also refocused its long-range strikes elsewhere, largely in the eastern and southern parts of the country, the official said.

“Clearly they’re still hitting Mariupol, but we have not seen the same level of airstrike activity on Kyiv,” the official said. “So there’s been a declination there over the last few days.”

Russia has fired more than 1,400 missiles against Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion.

Military aid being rushed into Ukraine

The U.S. has continued to rush small arms, anti-tank and aircraft missiles and medical supplies into Ukraine, and has coordinating shipments from a half dozen other donor nations in the last 24 hours, according to the senior defense official.

“Everything we’re doing with respect to Ukraine is being expedited — everything,” the official said.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Apr 04, 10:22 am
Russia may launch major offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Monday it is monitoring large movements of Russian troops and reinforcements in eastern Ukraine.

The General Staff said it expects Russian forces to launch a possibly major offensive in the Donbas region within the next 24 hours, particularly against the city of Severodonetsk, which is the administrative center of the government-controlled areas of the Luhansk Oblast.

Meanwhile, Donetsk Oblast Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko has urged civilians to evacuate now, even from areas not close to the front lines.

Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his recognition of two breakaway areas of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region that share a border with Russia — the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. Russia-backed separatist forces have controlled these parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhanks oblasts since 2014.

Apr 04, 10:04 am
Zelenskyy visits bombed city of Bucha

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited on Monday the decimated city of Bucha, where Ukrainian officials have accused Russian troops of committing war crimes against civilians.

Zelenskyy toured the Kyiv suburb that was retaken by Ukrainian forces in recent days. Zelenskyy went to a road in the city littered with destroyed Russian equipment and he spoke to local residents.

Zelenskyy repeated accusations that Russia committed war crimes and genocide after Ukrainian officials said 410 people believed to have been civilians were found dead, many with their hands bound behind their backs and shot at close range.

Russian officials have denied the accusation and have requested the U.N. Security Council investigate.

Apr 04, 9:34 am
Ukraine accuses Russian brigade of war crimes, releases names of troops

Ukraine has accused a brigade of the Russian Ground Forces of committing war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense published online Monday what it said was a list with the names of hundreds of personnel of Russia’s 64th Motor Rifle Brigade whom they believe were directly responsible for atrocities in Bucha. Ukrainian officials have said there is evidence of other Russian units being involved.

Ukrainian authorities announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Images emerged showing bodies, some of which showed signs of torture, in civilian clothes strewn in streets and in mass graves across Bucha, northwest of Kyiv. ABC News journalists on the ground saw some of the dead, including a family that locals said were executed with their hands bound.

Russia has denied the claims.

-ABC News’ Natalia Kushnir and Fidel Pavlenko

Apr 04, 9:23 am
Russian oligarch’s yacht seized in Spain

A yacht that belongs to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg was seized Monday in Marina Real in the Spanish port of Palma de Mallorca, two U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The yacht was seized by Spanish authorities and KleptoCapture, the U.S. Department of Justice task force charged with finding assets of oligarchs trying to evade sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Vekselberg was among the oligarchs sanctioned previously by the United States in 2018 after Russia invaded Crimea.

The task force is trying to find yachts, airplanes and other moveable properties before the oligarchs can move them to jurisdictions where it might be more difficult for U.S. authorities to investigate.

-ABC News’ Luke Barr and Aaron Katersky

Apr 04, 8:20 am
Russia accuses Ukraine of ‘fake attack’ in Bucha

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused Ukrainian forces of staging an attack in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, where images have emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes lying in the streets and in mass graves.

“The other day, another fake attack was launched in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, after Russian military personnel left from there in accordance with the plans and agreements reached,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow on Monday. “A few days later, a staging was arranged there, which was dispersed through all channels and social networks by Ukrainian representatives and their Western patrons.”

According to Lavrov, Russian forces vacated the area on March 30.

“On March 31, the mayor [of Bucha] solemnly said that everything was fine there,” he added. “And two days later, we saw how the same production was organized on the streets, which they are now trying to use for anti-Russian purposes.”

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Some photos taken Sunday in Bucha show unarmed individuals who appear to have been executed with their hands or legs bound. A number of world leaders have accused Russia of committing the atrocities.

Apr 04, 7:41 am
Kremlin reacts to images of dead bodies in Bucha

Russia responded on Monday to accusations that its troops have deliberately killed civilians in Ukraine, after images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes scattered in areas on the outskirts of the capital that were recently recaptured from Russian forces.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova said Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in towns near Kyiv.

During a daily press briefing on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia “categorically dismiss[es] any accusations” of its role in civilian killings and that Moscow does not trust the evidence in Bucha.

“This information should be seriously doubted,” Peskov told reporters. “From what we have seen, the video materials cannot be trusted to a large extent, as our specialists from the Defense Ministry have detected signs of video forgery and other kinds of fakes.”

The Kremlin demands that “international leaders do not jump to conclusions, do not make hasty unsupported accusations but at least seek information from various sources and at least listen to our arguments,” Peskov said.

“The facts, the chronology of events also do not speak in favor of the credibility of these claims,” he added.

Russia will reiterate its calls to discuss the matter at the United Nations Security Council on Monday, according to Peskov.

“We believe that the issue should be discussed at the highest level, so we have proposed that it be discussed at the Security Council. We are aware that the initiative has been blocked,” he said. “Our diplomats will continue active efforts towards putting this item on the Security Council’s agenda. This issue is too serious.”

“The initiative aimed to put the item on the Security Council agenda demonstrates that Russia wants and actually demands its discussion at the international level,” he added.

Apr 04, 7:11 am
Russia seeks UN Security Council meeting on Bucha for Monday

Russia said it will repeat its request for the United Nations Security Council to meet on Monday over what Moscow described as “criminal provocations by Ukrainian soldiers and radicals” in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.

The United Kingdom’s mission to the U.N., which assumed the presidency of the 15-member Security Council for April, has said the group will hold a scheduled discussion on Ukraine on Tuesday, rather than meet on Monday as requested by Russia.

“Yesterday, in the worst English tradition, the British presidency of the U.N. Security Council did not give consent to holding a meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Bucha,” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement via Telegram on Monday. “Russia today will again demand the convening of the U.N. Security Council in connection with the criminal provocations of the Ukrainian military and radicals in this city.”

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes strewn in the streets of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

Russia’s deputy representative to the U.N. Security Council, Dmitry Polyansky, said via Twitter on Sunday that Moscow had requested a meeting to be held on Monday “in connection with the monstrous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in Bucha.”

Apr 04, 6:01 am
Russian troops, Wagner mercenaries move into Ukraine’s Donbas region

Russian forces are continuing to consolidate and reorganize as they refocus their offensive into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Monday.

“Russian troops, including mercenaries from the Russian state-linked Wagner private military company, are being moved into the area,” the ministry added.

Wagner is the best-known of an array of Russian mercenary groups and has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian company has deployed fighters to countries in the Middle East and Africa. U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson John Kirby told reporters last month that Wagner “has an interest in increasing their footprint in Ukraine.”

Apr 03, 10:37 pm
Zelenskyy speaks at Grammys: ‘Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a brief speech at the on Sunday night.

Zelenskyy, in a video message, said war is the opposite of music, but hopes soon the silence of death will be filled with the sound of music.

“The war doesn’t let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence. Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos,” Zelenskyy told the audience. “They sing to the wounded. In hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway.”

Apr 03, 8:14 pm
7 dead, 34 wounded in Kharkiv shelling, 70% of Chernihiv destroyed

At least seven civilians are dead and 34 are wounded following shelling in Kharkiv, the region’s prosecutor’s office announced Sunday.

The shelling occurred Sunday evening in the city’s Slobidskyi district, according to the Kharkiv regional military administration Oleg Sinehubov, who added that children are among the victims.

Meanwhile, in Chernihiv, around 70% of the city has been destroyed, according to Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko, who was speaking on Ukrainian TV.

He added that businesses are not operating. Ukrainian soldiers have been able to liberate several villages in the Chernihiv region in the past couple of days.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Apr 03, 4:20 pm
‘Concentrated evil has come,’ Zelenskyy addresses civilian deaths in Bucha

Following graphic images of casualties coming out of Bucha, Ukraine, after Russian military withdrawal, Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strong words about he called, “concentrated evil, in his daily address Sunday. Here are excerpts from that address:

“Hundreds of people were killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Corpses on the streets. Mined area. Even the bodies of the dead were mined!”

“Concentrated evil has come to our land. Murderers. Torturers. Rapists. Looters. Who call themselves the army. And who deserve only death after what they did.”

“I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the killed people in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel. What did they do? Why were they killed? What did the man who was riding his bicycle down the street do? Why were ordinary civilians in an ordinary peaceful city tortured to death? Why were women strangled after their earrings were ripped out of their ears? How could women be raped and killed in front of children? How could their corpses be desecrated even after death? Why did they crush the bodies of people with tanks? What did the Ukrainian city of Bucha do to your Russia? How did all this become possible?”

“All partners of Ukraine will be informed in detail about what happened in the temporarily occupied territory of our state. War crimes in Bucha and other cities during the Russian occupation will also be considered by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.”

Zelenslyy also invited former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Ukraine to witness the carnage.

“We do not blame the West. We do not blame anyone but the specific Russian military who did this against our people,” Zelenskyy, who has pleaded with the U.S. and NATO allies to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a measure so far, that President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have refused to do, said.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(HONG KONG) — Hong Kong’s divisive leader, Carrie Lam, announced on Monday that she will not run for a second five-year term, ending her 42-year political career.

Lam presided over the city during its most politically turbulent years, which included the often-violent 2019 protests, the implementation of the National Security Law and most recently, her government’s haphazard response to an omicron variant surge that took more than 8,000 lives since January.

Lam’s term has left the former British colony a changed city from a free-wheeling bastion of free-speech and pre-eminent international financial center on Chinese soil to an isolated muted city strangled by both COVID restrictions and a relentless crackdown on dissent.

The chief executive said she informed Beijing at last year’s annual National People’s Congress meeting in March that she wouldn’t be running again.

Lam, 64, told reporters on Monday that she was prioritizing spending time with her family: “They think it is time for me to go home … This is what I have told the Central People’s Government. And they have expressed understanding.”

Hong Kong’s stock exchange climbed as much as 2% following her announcement.

Lam, Hong Kong’s first female leader, thanked mainland Chinese authorities for their support during her tenure, saying she had faced “unprecedented pressure” due to the 2019 anti-government protests and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lam oversaw the implementation of a controversial security law that quashed dissent in the former British colony. A widespread crackdown on activism followed. Pro-democracy media outlets have been shut down and most opposition figures are now in jail or in self-exile. Lam faced U.S. sanctions for her role in the crackdown.

In recent weeks and months, Lam has drawn ire from the business community for Hong Kong’s rigid COVID policies and border measures, which have left the financial hub isolated since 2020.

When taking up the post back in 2017, Lam — a devout Catholic — said that God had called upon her: “From day one, I have said this opportunity is given by God.”

In her acceptance speech, Lam said: “Hong Kong, our home, is suffering from quite a serious divisiveness and has accumulated a lot of frustrations. My priority will be to heal the divide.”

Her successor will be picked in May by a select election committee made up of Beijing loyalists. Local media are reporting that John Lee, the former security minister who led the response to the protests, is favored, but he has yet to declare his candidacy. Finance chief Paul Chan is also a potential front runner.

“Compared to this term of government, the next government will be seeing a more stable political environment,” Lam said on Monday.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Apr 04, 7:41 am
Kremlin reacts to images of dead bodies in Bucha

Russia responded on Monday to accusations that its troops have deliberately killed civilians in Ukraine, after images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes scattered in areas on the outskirts of the capital that were recently recaptured from Russian forces.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova said Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in towns near Kyiv.

During a daily press briefing on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia “categorically dismiss[es] any accusations” of its role in civilian killings and that Moscow does not trust the evidence in Bucha.

“This information should be seriously doubted,” Peskov told reporters. “From what we have seen, the video materials cannot be trusted to a large extent, as our specialists from the Defense Ministry have detected signs of video forgery and other kinds of fakes.”

The Kremlin demands that “international leaders do not jump to conclusions, do not make hasty unsupported accusations but at least seek information from various sources and at least listen to our arguments,” Peskov said.

“The facts, the chronology of events also do not speak in favor of the credibility of these claims,” he added.

Russia will reiterate its calls to discuss the matter at the United Nations Security Council on Monday, according to Peskov.

“We believe that the issue should be discussed at the highest level, so we have proposed that it be discussed at the Security Council. We are aware that the initiative has been blocked,” he said. “Our diplomats will continue active efforts towards putting this item on the Security Council’s agenda. This issue is too serious.”

“The initiative aimed to put the item on the Security Council agenda demonstrates that Russia wants and actually demands its discussion at the international level,” he added.

Apr 04, 7:11 am
Russia seeks UN Security Council meeting on Bucha for Monday

Russia said it will repeat its request for the United Nations Security Council to meet on Monday over what Moscow described as “criminal provocations by Ukrainian soldiers and radicals” in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.

The United Kingdom’s mission to the U.N., which assumed the presidency of the 15-member Security Council for April, has said the group will hold a scheduled discussion on Ukraine on Tuesday, rather than meet on Monday as requested by Russia.

“Yesterday, in the worst English tradition, the British presidency of the U.N. Security Council did not give consent to holding a meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Bucha,” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement via Telegram on Monday. “Russia today will again demand the convening of the U.N. Security Council in connection with the criminal provocations of the Ukrainian military and radicals in this city.”

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes strewn in the streets of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

Russia’s deputy representative to the U.N. Security Council, Dmitry Polyansky, said via Twitter on Sunday that Moscow had requested a meeting to be held on Monday “in connection with the monstrous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in Bucha.”

Apr 04, 6:01 am
Russian troops, Wagner mercenaries move into Ukraine’s Donbas region

Russian forces are continuing to consolidate and reorganize as they refocus their offensive into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Monday.

“Russian troops, including mercenaries from the Russian state-linked Wagner private military company, are being moved into the area,” the ministry added.

Wagner is the best-known of an array of Russian mercenary groups and has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian company has deployed fighters to countries in the Middle East and Africa. U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson John Kirby told reporters last month that Wagner “has an interest in increasing their footprint in Ukraine.”

Apr 03, 10:37 pm
Zelenskyy speaks at Grammys: ‘Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a brief speech at the on Sunday night.

Zelenskyy, in a video message, said war is the opposite of music, but hopes soon the silence of death will be filled with the sound of music.

“The war doesn’t let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence. Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos,” Zelenskyy told the audience. “They sing to the wounded. In hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway.”

Apr 03, 8:14 pm
7 dead, 34 wounded in Kharkiv shelling, 70% of Chernihiv destroyed

At least seven civilians are dead and 34 are wounded following shelling in Kharkiv, the region’s prosecutor’s office announced Sunday.

The shelling occurred Sunday evening in the city’s Slobidskyi district, according to the Kharkiv regional military administration Oleg Sinehubov, who added that children are among the victims.

Meanwhile, in Chernihiv, around 70% of the city has been destroyed, according to Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko, who was speaking on Ukrainian TV.

He added that businesses are not operating. Ukrainian soldiers have been able to liberate several villages in the Chernihiv region in the past couple of days.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Apr 03, 4:20 pm
‘Concentrated evil has come,’ Zelenskyy addresses civilian deaths in Bucha

Following graphic images of casualties coming out of Bucha, Ukraine, after Russian military withdrawal, Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strong words about he called, “concentrated evil, in his daily address Sunday. Here are excerpts from that address:

“Hundreds of people were killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Corpses on the streets. Mined area. Even the bodies of the dead were mined!”

“Concentrated evil has come to our land. Murderers. Torturers. Rapists. Looters. Who call themselves the army. And who deserve only death after what they did.”

“I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the killed people in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel. What did they do? Why were they killed? What did the man who was riding his bicycle down the street do? Why were ordinary civilians in an ordinary peaceful city tortured to death? Why were women strangled after their earrings were ripped out of their ears? How could women be raped and killed in front of children? How could their corpses be desecrated even after death? Why did they crush the bodies of people with tanks? What did the Ukrainian city of Bucha do to your Russia? How did all this become possible?”

“All partners of Ukraine will be informed in detail about what happened in the temporarily occupied territory of our state. War crimes in Bucha and other cities during the Russian occupation will also be considered by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.”

Zelenslyy also invited former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Ukraine to witness the carnage.

“We do not blame the West. We do not blame anyone but the specific Russian military who did this against our people,” Zelenskyy, who has pleaded with the U.S. and NATO allies to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a measure so far, that President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have refused to do, said.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Processing Russia’s war on Ukraine has been a challenge for all children, especially those who were forced to flee their homes, say goodbye to family members and watch their entire lives change overnight.

To help these children traumatized by living in war zones and bring attention to their plight, artist Brian McCarty is capturing war through their eyes. His project, War Toys, asks children living within violence to draw the destruction they’ve witnessed.

“We want to do everything we can while the fighting is going on, recognizing it’s not until the fighting stops that real recovery happens,” McCarty said in an interview with ABC News Live Friday. “So, for now we’re just getting in any way we can, giving support any way we can.”

McCarty partners with organizations working in the war zone to recreate the children’s drawings in real life, using toys found in the local area, and staging them to represent the artwork drawn by young people.

“It’s the idea to find the local toys that are available to them as a layer of cultural commentary and artifact, and really unify the types of toys you can find anywhere and connect children and adults the same,” said McCarty.

To start these efforts in Ukraine, McCarty partnered with First Aid of the Soul, a newly formed, grassroots effort being built by Ukrainian art therapist Nathalie Robelot. Once it’s safe, the therapists will gather stories from affected children.

War Toys also works with U.N. agencies to amplify the voices of the children under their care, and produce artwork in hopes to inspire change through campaigns and presentations.

Founded in 2019, it’s helped provide art therapy and services to children living in the Middle East. Rubber ducks, dolls and other kids toys have helped bring drawings from Syria and Iraq come to life.

McCarty said it’s meaningful for children to see this pain from another point of view, and that the toys help make them feel safe. The photographs of toys in war zones are also helping children from afar. In the United States, children have come across graphic images and videos of the war in Ukraine, forcing parents and teachers to find ways to address the crisis in an age-appropriate way.

At Holy Innocents Episcopal School in Atlanta, McCarty has displayed the photographs of war toys, giving American children a way to also find comfort in the chaos that’s happening overseas.

“It just worked perfectly to bring him in, to help us really try to teach our children about the difficulties of war,” said the Rev. Bill Murray, the eighth rector of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church. “But especially that it is not just the soldiers that are on the field, that there are families that are hurting, that there are so many that are lost and need help.”

The reverend said the artwork has helped better explain the war to his students, making them feel more connected to what people their age are going through in Ukraine.

“Taking these pictures and showing the world these photos brings that into the realness, encouraging others to want to help these kids who are in these countries and suffering so much with all that they have seen and all that they have gone through,” Gracie Cavallo, a ninth grader at Holy Innocents Episcopal School, told ABC News Live. “It helps bring us together as a community and a world.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Apr 03, 4:20 pm
‘Concentrated evil has come,’ Zelenskyy addresses civilian deaths in Bucha

Following graphic images of casualties coming out of Bucha, Ukraine, after Russian military withdrawal, Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strong words about he called, “concentrated evil, in his daily address Sunday. Here are excerpts from that address:

“Hundreds of people were killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Corpses on the streets. Mined area. Even the bodies of the dead were mined!”

“Concentrated evil has come to our land. Murderers. Torturers. Rapists. Looters. Who call themselves the army. And who deserve only death after what they did.”

“I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the killed people in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel. What did they do? Why were they killed? What did the man who was riding his bicycle down the street do? Why were ordinary civilians in an ordinary peaceful city tortured to death? Why were women strangled after their earrings were ripped out of their ears? How could women be raped and killed in front of children? How could their corpses be desecrated even after death? Why did they crush the bodies of people with tanks? What did the Ukrainian city of Bucha do to your Russia? How did all this become possible?”

“All partners of Ukraine will be informed in detail about what happened in the temporarily occupied territory of our state. War crimes in Bucha and other cities during the Russian occupation will also be considered by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.”

Zelenslyy also invited former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Ukraine to witness the carnage.

“We do not blame the West. We do not blame anyone but the specific Russian military who did this against our people,” Zelenskyy, who has pleaded with the U.S. and NATO allies to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a measure so far, that President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have refused to do, said.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Apr 03, 3:02 pm
World leaders react to images showing bodies of civilians scattered on streets

Several world leaders on Sunday reacted to images shared by Ukraine’s president’s office, claiming to show the bodies of civilians scattered on the streets after the withdrawal of Russian troops from areas northwest of Kyiv.

In some of the photos, unarmed civilians appear to have been executed with their hands tied behind their backs.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called the deaths of civilians in Bucha a “brutality” on CNN’s “State of the Union” show, and said “I strongly welcome” an investigation by International Criminal Court, which has opened an investigation into war crimes in Ukraine.

“You can’t but [see] those images as a punch to the gut … Since the aggression, we’ve come out and said that we believe Russian forces have committed war crimes and we’ve been working to document that, to provide the information that we have to the relevant institutions and organizations that will put all of this together,” U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told CNN’s State of the Union Sunday.

“Russia’s despicable attacks against innocent civilians in Irpin and Bucha are yet more evidence that Putin and his army are committing war crimes in Ukraine,” U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. “No denial or disinformation from the Kremlin can hide what we all know to be the truth — Putin is desperate, his invasion is failing, and Ukraine’s resolve has never been stronger. I will do everything in my power to starve Putin’s war machine. We are stepping up our sanctions and military support, as well as bolstering our humanitarian support package to help those in need on the ground. The UK has been at the forefront of supporting the international Criminal Court’s investigation into atrocities committed in Ukraine. The Justice Secretary has authorized additional financial support and the deployment of specialist investigators – we will not rest until justice is served,” Johnson said.

Other world leaders expressed their feelings on social media.

“Appalled by reports of unspeakable horrors in areas from which Russia is withdrawing. An independent investigation is urgently needed. Perpetrators of war crimes will be held accountable,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on Twitter.

“Mass killings of Ukrainian civilians by #Russia are clear war crimes,” Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Twitter.. “We need courage, moral clarity and more action to stop it. Indifference is the mother of all crimes. Evidence must be gathered, saved for trials, and perpetrators must face justice. We need a 5th round of strong EU sanctions as soon as possible. Finally, our top priority should be increased military aid to #Ukraine. They need it to take back their cities and free people from Russian occupation and repression. #StandWithUkraine”

The prime minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša also weighed in on Twitter: “This are massive crimes against humanity. Russian army behaves as a horde of KGB executioners at Katyn. And at many other places after and before. Never bearing responsibility. After seeing #BuchaMassacre, we are terrified to even imagine what we will see in #Mariupol.”

Belgium’s Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès, also posted om Twitter: “The images from the city of #Bucha confirm the fears we have had since February, which have led us to support several international investigations, including that of the @IntlCrimCourt. Impunity must not be allowed.”

“Terrible images of destruction and reported executions of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, in wake of Russian aggression. Reminiscent of darkest scenes from European history. To fight impunity :flag-se: will support @IntlCrimCourt investigation, incl financially and with seconded personnel,” Sweden’s prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, also posted to Twitter

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Apr 03, 10:23 am
Ukraine asks for investigation into Russian ‘war crimes’

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, called on the International Criminal Court and other international organizations to investigate Russians committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“I urge the International Criminal Court and international organizations to send their missions to Bucha and other liberated towns and villages of the Kyiv region, in cooperation with Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, to collect all evidence of Russian war crimes as carefully as possible,” Kuleba said Sunday on Times UK radio.

“We are still collecting and looking for bodies, but the toll has already gone into the hundreds. Dead bodies lie on the streets. They killed civilians while in and out of these villages and towns,” he said.

-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd

Apr 03, 4:22 am
Russia strikes Odessa, strategic Black Sea port city

Plumes of dark smoke rose on Sunday over Odessa, Ukraine, after an early morning Russian attack on the strategic and historic port city.

Missiles struck critical infrastructure facilities in the southern city, which sits on the Black Sea, Ukraine’s southern command announced. Casualties have not yet been reported.

-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd

Apr 02, 6:43 pm
Zelenskyy updates on resistance’s progress, calls on West to send more weapons

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a new address Saturday updating the progress of the country’s defense against Russian forces.

Ukrainian forces are regaining control of the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, according to the president.

“There are more and more Ukrainian national flags in the areas that have been temporarily occupied,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy, however, said his country hasn’t received any new weapon systems from the West and chastised Western allies.

“Every Russian missile that hit our cities and every bomb dropped on our people, on our children, only adds black paint to the history that will describe everyone on whom the decision depended; [the] decision whether to help Ukraine with modern weapons,” he said.

-ABC News’ Jason Volack

Apr 02, 2:53 pm
Ukrainian photographer found dead in Kyiv area

Acclaimed Ukrainian photographer Maksim Levin was found dead by police in the Kyiv region, , a Ukrainian online publication, confirmed.

Levin went missing on March 13 while covering fighting in the village of Moshchun, Ukraine, with Oleksiy Chernyshov, who has not yet been found. Intense fighting broke out in the area where they were.

Levin worked as a photojournalist, documentary photographer and cameraman for many Ukrainian and international publications, according to .

He worked in the editorial office of for more than 10 years, and has also worked with Reuters, BBC, TRT World, Associated Press and Hromadske.

Apr 02, 1:54 pm
Ukrainian flag raised over Chernobyl

The Ukrainian national flag was raised above the Chernobyl nuclear power plant Saturday at 11:00 a.m. local time, as workers sung the national anthem and celebrated the departure of Russian troops who had occupied the site for weeks.

“The flag-raising ceremony was attended by the station’s operational personnel, who have been ensuring and continue to ensure the nuclear and radiation safety of the facilities during the difficult conditions of the occupation,” Energoatom, Ukraine’s state enterprise which operates its nuclear power stations, posted on its Telegram channel.

Apr 02, 1:51 pm
Russia to halt cooperation over International Space Station unless sanctions lifted: Roscosmos CEO

Roscosmos, the Russian state space corporation, said it will present the Russian government with proposals for discontinuing international cooperation on the International Space Station.

“Specific proposals from Roscosmos on the timeframe for ending cooperation on the ISS with the space agencies of the United States, Canada, the European Union and Japan will be submitted to our country’s administration in the near future,” Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said on his Telegram channel.

Resumption of normal cooperation with ISS partners is only possible if the sanctions are fully lifted, Rogozin said.

“I believe that restoration of normal relations between the partners on the International Space Station and other joint projects is possible only if the illegal sanctions are lifted fully and unconditionally,” he wrote.

Apr 02, 9:06 am
Red Cross traveling to Mariupol once more to evacuate civilians

Red Cross renewed its attempts to send a team to Mariupol on Saturday to evacuate civilians, after a team was unable to reach the city on Friday.

“Our team is on the move this morning from Zaporizhzhia to Mariupol. I’m not able to give further information at this stage,” a Red Cross spokesperson said to Reuters.

An estimated 160,000 people are trapped in Mariupol.

A team on Friday had to abandon its plan to send 54 buses and many cars to Mariupol after it was unable to get security guarantees for the convoy.

Apr 02, 8:49 am
Pope says he is considering trip to Kyiv

Pope Francis told reporters Saturday that he is considering making a trip to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Asked by a reporter on the papal plane taking Francis from Rome to Malta if he was considering an invitation made by Ukrainian political and religious authorities, Francis answered: “Yes, it is on the table.” He gave no further details.

The pope didn’t mention Russian President Vladimir Putin by name during his remarks, but said “some potentate” had unleashed the threat of nuclear war on the world in an “infantile and destructive aggression” under the guise of “anachronist claims of nationalistic interests.”

“We had thought that invasions of other countries, savage street fighting and atomic threats were grim memories of a distant past,” Francis added.

Apr 02, 8:40 am
Zelenskyy says Russian forces are leaving behind ‘a catastrophic situation’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zeleneksyy claimed Russian forces are leaving behind “a catastrophic situation” and that they are mining the entire territory.

“Occupiers are retreating in the north of our country, slowly but noticeably. Somewhere they are pushed away with fighting, somewhere they are leaving their positions themselves. After their withdrawal, the situation is catastrophic, and there is so much danger,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy then claimed, “First of all, airstrikes might continue. Secondly, they are mining the entire territory, houses, hardware, even the bodies of those killed. There are so many tripwires and other dangers.”

He warned that people returning to these territories should be careful as “it’s still not possible to return to normal life as it used to be, even at the territories that we are taking back after the fighting. We need wait till our land is de-mined, wait till we are able to assure you that there won’t be new shelling.”

Zelenskyy claimed Ukrainians have been able to evacuate 6,266 people, including 3,071 residents of Mariupol. He also said they are discussing the evacuation of the injured and killed military personnel and civilians, with Turkey acting as an intermediary.

Zelenskyy said Russian troops are preparing for new “powerful strikes” in the east and warned that Russia is trying to conscript people in Crimea.

Zelenskyy, speaking in Russian, addressed the Russian people, asking them to, “Warn every conscript and their parents that we don’t need more killed people here. Take care of your children so that they don’t turn into evil. Don’t let them go to the army. Do whatever you can to let them live at home, at their home.”

Apr 01, 6:11 pm
US cancels ballistic missile test to avoid escalation with Russia

A U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile test that was initially postponed in early March to avoid “misinterpretation” by Russia was recently canceled, the Department of the Air Force said Friday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin originally delayed the routine test flight of an LGM-30G Minuteman III missile after Russia put its nuclear deterrent forces on a state of heightened alert.

“The launch had been previously delayed due to an overabundance of caution to avoid misinterpretation or miscommunication during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and was cancelled for the same reason,” the Air Force said in a statement. “Our next planned test flight is later this year. The Department is confident in the readiness of the strategic forces of the United States.”

Apr 01, 4:23 pm
Kyiv suburb Bucha liberated from Russian forces, mayor says

Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, has been liberated from Russian forces, its mayor declared.

“March 31 will go down in the history of our settlement and the entire territorial community as a day of liberation from the Russian occupiers by our armed forces,” Mayor Anatolii Fedoruk said in a video posted to Facebook Friday. “Today I state that this day is joyful and it is a great victory of our armed forces in Kyiv region.”

Last week, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces battling toward Kyiv were able to partially take several northwestern suburbs, including Bucha.

Apr 01, 3:56 pm
Over 6,200 evacuated from southeastern Ukraine Friday

Over 6,200 people were evacuated from regions in southeastern Ukraine Friday by buses and private cars, according to Ukrainian officials.

In the Donetsk region, 3,071 people were evacuated from the besieged port city of Mariupol, officials said.

Earlier Friday, Mariupol officials said an estimated 100,000 civilians remained trapped in the city despite repeated efforts by Ukrainian officials to evacuate them.

Additionally, over 1,700 people were evacuated from the Luhansk region, and over 1,400 from the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian officials said.

Apr 01, 1:20 pm
Ukraine, Russia hold talks on proposed security guarantee treaty

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators continued peace talks virtually on Friday, Mykhailo Podolyak, a chief negotiator for the Ukrainians, told ABC News.

“On the table is the key document proposed by the Ukrainian delegation – the Treaty on Security Guarantees,” Podolyak said. This proposed agreement provides for the possibility of exit from the war and the prevention of future conflicts.

Ukraine proposed a new system of security guarantees similar to NATO’s collective defense clause which would legally require “guarantor countries” to provide arms and impose a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine, in the event of an attack.

Both sides are working on the legal wording of the basic provisions of the contract, Podolyak said.

“The discussion is extremely difficult, since the negotiating positions of the parties are strongly influenced by the daily change in the military situation on all lines of contact,” Podolyak said.

Apr 01, 12:53 pm
Red Cross unable to reach Mariupol, will attempt again Saturday

An International Committee of the Red Cross team that was on its way to Mariupol to facilitate the safe passage of civilians on Friday had to return to Zaporizhzhia. The ICRC said arrangements and conditions made it impossible to proceed.

The ICRC team, which consists of three vehicles and nine personnel, said it will try again on Saturday.

The ICRC said it is critical that parties respect the agreements and provide the necessary conditions and security guarantees, and that it plans to accompany the convoy out of Mariupol to another Ukrainian city.

Apr 01, 9:44 am
Radiation around Chernobyl plant is normal: IAEA director general

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, said on Friday that radiation around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is normal.

“General radiation around the plant is quite normal,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said at a press conference.

There have been instances of relatively higher levels of localized radiation, which may have been caused by heavy vehicles moving in the area, the IAEA said.

The IAEA said it does not have any evidence that people were possibly contaminated.

Russia has not discussed its withdrawal from Chernobyl with the IAEA, the organization said.

“On the issue of radiation we are in consultation with the Ukrainian side,” Grossi said.

Grossi repeatedly stressed the unpredictability of working in a war zone, saying things may not have gone strictly according to plan.

“In case there was an emergency taking place, we are setting up a mechanism whereby we can send a team to assist almost immediately,” Grossi said.

-ABC News’ Guy Davies

Apr 01, 9:22 am
ICRC says a large humanitarian convoy is trying to get to Mariupol

The International Committee of the Red Cross is leading a large convoy on Friday to help civilians escape the hellscape that has become of Ukraine’s besieged port city of Mariupol, according to Crystal Wells, a spokesperson for the Geneva-based humanitarian organization.

“This effort has been and remains extremely complex,” Wells told ABC News in a statement. “There are a lot of moving parts and not all the details are yet in place to ensure that this happens in a safe manner today. We remain hopeful, we are in action moving toward Mariupol, but it’s not yet clear that this will happen today.”

According to Wells, the three ICRC vehicles, carrying nine ICRC staff, are leading vehicles from other organizations — “potentially 54 buses.” Images circulating on social media show other civilian vehicles joining the convoy.

“Our presence puts a humanitarian marker on this movement of people, giving the convoy additional protection and reminding all sides of the civilian, non-military, humanitarian nature of the operation,” Wells said. “If and when it does happen, the ICRC’s role as a neutral intermediary will be to lead the convoy out from Mariupol to another city in Ukraine. We’re unable to confirm which city at the moment as this is something the parties must agree to.”

The situation in Mariupol “is horrendous and deteriorating, and it’s now a humanitarian imperative that people be allowed to leave, and aid supplies be allowed in,” according to Wells.

“We’re running out of adjectives to describe the horrors that residents in Mariupol have suffered,” she added. “The people of Mariupol have suffered weeks of heavy fighting, with dwindling water, food and medical supplies.”

The ICRC has had “open communication channels” with both Ukraine and Russia, Wells said, “but ensuring that all the details are agreed upon and well understood by all sides, and then communicated down the chain of command, and to the residents of Mariupol, is a challenge, and one that continues to take time to sort out.”

“The details that we insist are cemented in place include the exact safe passage route, its exact start time, and its duration,” she noted. “We have to be certain that a cease-fire holds. We have to be certain that this humanitarian convoy can safely move through military checkpoints.”

-ABC News’ Brian Hartman

Apr 01, 8:58 am
Ukrainian forces retake 2 villages south of Chernihiv, says UK

Ukrainian forces have retaken the villages of Sloboda and Lukashivka to the south of Chernihiv, located along one of the main supply routes between the northern city and Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Friday in an intelligence update.

“Ukraine has also continued to make successful but limited counter attack to the east and north east of Kyiv,” the ministry added. “Both Chernihiv and Kyiv have been subjected to continued air and missile strikes despite Russian claims of reducing activity in these areas.”

Apr 01, 7:19 am
Ukraine declines to comment on Russia’s accusation of attacking oil depot

Ukraine has declined to comment on Russia’s accusation that it carried out airstrikes on an oil depot in the Russian city of Belgorod early Friday.

“We do not comment on Russian fakes,” Volodymy Fityo, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ground Forces, told ABC News. “And we do not comment on the words of Russian officials who speak under the influence of substances.”

Earlier Friday, Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement via Telegram that two low-flying Ukrainian helicopters had entered Russian airspace and fired on an oil depot in Belgorod city, setting the building ablaze.

The depot run by Russian energy giant Roseneft is located about 21 miles north of the border with Ukraine. Two employees were injured but are expected to survive, while all other staff have been safely evacuated from the building, according to Gladkov.

Verified videos circulating online show an attack on an oil depot in Belgorod and the aftermath.

-ABC News’ James Longman

Apr 01, 6:43 am
Over 4.1 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR

More than 4.1 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency.

The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 9.2% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in 36 days.

More than half of the refugees crossed into neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.

-ABC News’ Zoe Magee

Apr 01, 5:48 am
Russia accuses Ukraine of striking oil depot in Russian city of Belgorod

Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out airstrikes on the Russian city of Belgorod early Friday.

Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement via Telegram that two low-flying Ukrainian helicopters entered Russian airspace and fired on an oil depot in Belgorod city, setting the building ablaze. Ukraine has yet to comment on the claim.

The depot run by Russian energy giant Roseneft is located about 21 miles north of the border with Ukraine. Two employees were injured but are expected to survive, while all other staff have been safely evacuated from the building, according to Gladkov.

Security camera footage circulating online and verified by ABC News shows an attack on an oil depot in Belgorod. In the video, two airstrikes can be seen in the distance, with a helicopter flying nearby.

Another verified video circulating online shows oil tanks on fire and a massive cloud of smoke billowing from the depot.

Russian news agency Interfax reported that at least two businesses in the village of Severny, just north of Belgorod, were also damaged by an early morning airstrike.

It remains unclear who is responsible for the attacks.

Belgorod, a city of more than 300,000, is about 50 miles north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which Russian forces have shelled heavily in recent weeks.

-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule

Apr 01, 4:32 am
100,000 remain trapped in Mariupol despite evacuation efforts, official says

An estimated 100,000 civilians remain trapped in Ukraine’s besieged port city of Mariupol despite repeated efforts by Ukrainian officials to evacuate them, according to Petro Andryushenko, adviser to Mariupol’s mayor.

Andryushenko told ABC News on Friday morning that Russia has not confirmed any humanitarian corridors leading out of Mariupol since announcing a localized cease-fire on Thursday to allow civilians to be evacuated.

A convoy of 45 evacuation buses that were sent to Mariupol have yet to reach the southeastern port city because it remains under Russian lockdown, according to Andryushenko, who noted that some people managed to escape by foot or in their own cars.

-ABC News’ Oleksii Pshemysky

Mar 31, 7:15 pm
Some Russian troops possibly heading to Belarus to regroup: Pentagon

Russian troops that have begun to withdraw from the ground effort against Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv seem to be heading north to Belarus to regroup before rejoining the fight, the Pentagon said Thursday.

“The best assessment we have – and it’s an assessment at this early stage – is that they’re going to be repositioned probably into Belarus to be refit and resupplied, and used elsewhere in Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters.

It’s not clear where they might go, but the Donbas region is one candidate, Kirby said.

Roughly 20% of the Russian forces that were designated to move on Kyiv are now repositioning, several U.S. officials said.

Kirby said Russian forces that are apparently leaving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant also seem to be heading toward Belarus, though noted that “indications are not completely clear at this time.”

The Pentagon assesses these troops are leaving to “refit and resupply,” and not due to a health hazard or other crisis at Chernobyl, Kirby said.

-ABC News’ Matthew Seyle

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